{"id":2010,"date":"2012-08-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/simple-security-improvements-with-your-mobile-device\/"},"modified":"2012-08-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T00:00:00","slug":"simple-security-improvements-with-your-mobile-device","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/simple-security-improvements-with-your-mobile-device\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple Security Improvements with Your Mobile Device"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two, 2-minute security improvements to secure your account<\/strong><\/p>\n

My inbox receives between 100 and 200 work emails daily – so far, as of writing this at 4:11pm, I\u2019m up to 155. I won\u2019t share my personal email stats – it usually creates panic attacks for my auto-tagging, auto-sorting colleagues who make an empty inbox a daily goal (haven\u2019t they ever heard of search?! LOL).<\/p>\n

Given the daily deluge, the juxtaposition between these two emails that both came in at 2:04pm this afternoon struck that cynically ironic chord that kicks in around mid-afternoon:<\/p>\n

Subject #1: CNN – Hack raises concern about cloud storage<\/em><\/strong>
\nSubject #2:\u00a0Data Breaches May Be on the Decline – Health IT Weekly Digest – August 8, 2012<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first told the particularly insidious goal of scaring the bejeebers out of what can happen if someone manages to get that first login credential and proceeds to annihilate all related, links accounts and precious cloud storage (pics, emails, tweets \u2026 you get it).<\/p>\n

Now, while I sincerely hope that the second email ends up being the true predictor of improved online security, I think the ever-increasing security entry points that mobile phones present to secure information (your files, payment info, medical info, family info), will make data breaches ongoing fodder for the headlines.<\/p>\n

In the interest of not wanting to be a statistic, I set aside the procrastination for about five minutes .. just long enough to make an easy, but significant change to my personal email account – in this case, Gmail. I change my work login with incredible regularity, because otherwise I\u2019ll be automatically locked out. But, having no such regulation applied to my personal account, it lapses into the complacent continuity of login credentials. Resemble that? Here are two very quick ways to significantly improve the security of your login credentials.<\/p>\n

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  1. Make your password longer. A LOT longer. Think this means you\u2019ll NEVER remember it? Actually, you may find it easier to remember. Choose a group of words that have meaning to you personally – maybe the name of your aunts all strung together. Or maybe the names of your dad\u2019s cats. The main thing is, make your password as long as possible. Throw in a few uppercase letters and a symbol for accent, and poof! – an instant, exponential increase in the security of your password. Why? Because each additional character you add multiplies the number of possible permutations of your password.<\/li>\n
  2. If you have Gmail, or an email account that supports two-factor authentication – use it! It\u2019s super easy to set up. I\u2019ll show you how I did it in Gmail – it only took me 2 minutes. Our entire company uses two-factor authentication to connect to our private domain, and so far, no one has suffered untoward consequences. All you need is your phone.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n