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Please, Enable Two Factor Authentication Right Now

By Rick Mueller

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It Might Save You A Lot Of Heartache

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Man, a lot of corporations have been hacked lately. Sony is in the minds of everyone right now, but just a few months ago it was giants like Target, eBay, and Home Depot that were in the news for getting hacked. Millions and millions of users have had their personal information hijacked due to these hacks. Transaction records, health records, baking records, and social security numbers are just a sliver of the information that has been stolen.

And it’s not just corporations. We’ve been told for years that our identity is going to get stolen. There are companies that exist specifically for you to pay them to keep your identity from getting stolen and they’ve been hacked. We all like to believe that is isn’t going to happen to us, that we will just be glanced over when a breach occurs, but the fact of the matter is we don’t know that. TransUnion states that about 19 people are victims of identity theft every minute.

It’s scary.

So, what can you do to protect yourself? Stronger passwords are a given. Don’t make your password “password” or 123456.  Did you know that those were the top two common passwords of 2013? So try making it a little more uncommon. I know, coming up with passwords can be frustrating and difficult to remember.  That’s why changing something as simple as one character can make the difference.  For example: Instead of “fireplace” as your password, try “F!replace”. Simply capitalizing the “F” and making the “I” an exclamation point can slow things down. Is it going to stop anyone from accessing your account altogether? Probably not, hackers use algorithms that would most likely blow through that password like me at Taco Bell, but it’s a start.

To me, the most important tactic to take, especially on social media sites, is to enable Two Factor Authentication. If you are like me, you have a cell phone. Odds are, also like me, that cell phone is normally within three feet of you.  After you input your username and password to log onto a site, a text message or phone call is placed to your phone.  This message will have a code, typically six digits that you’ll then put into the website to log in. This little extra layer of security goes a long way.

Let’s say I get your Twitter or Gmail username and password and try to login. You are going to get a text message letting you know someone is trying to log into your account. If you’re Taco Bell eating a dozen tacos then you’ll know some strange is going on. Without that code, they can’t log in. There are other methods as well, but this is just one example.

Now, you might be thinking “that seems like a hassle” or “what if I don’t have my phone” Valid thoughts. Indeed, I’ve tried to log into Twitter on my wife’s laptop only to hear my phone chime from the other room. Before I can log in I have to get out of bed and walk ten feet to get my phone. In that regard, it’s a bummer. I’m lazy. Luckily you can typically set your machine to remember you or not prompt in the future. However, if your machine is stolen, you’re boned.

Two Factor Authentication isn’t a guaranteed safeguard. While it does provide a nice buffer of security, it can sometime be bypassed as well. The best example of this is when Mat Honan of Wired was hacked in 2012. Hackers were able to convince Apple and Amazon to let them access and change the passwords to those accounts. From there it was easy to open the doors needed to gain full access to his life. The story is incredibly fascinating albeit it a bit terrifying.

So take a minute, reflect, and decide if you feel you need the extra security. Are the few extra minutes it takes to log into an account worth it to protect you from data breeches?  Do you think you’ll be one of the 19 people that will get hacked this minute?

To see a list of sites that support Two Factor Auth. in some fashion, visit TwoFactorAuth.org

A few extra minutes might save you many hours in the future.

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