Security Tips

With so much of our personal lives readily available on the internet and via social media, how can you prevent your personal data from being stolen in a security breach?

There are free services available where you can check if your email address has been compromised through a breach.  The likes of https://haveibeenpwned.com/ provide a quick and simple test.  Simply type in your email address and if your email address has been breached, it will give you the sites where the breach occurred.  It will also suggest taking the following steps:

  • Protect yourself using 1Password to generate and save strong passwords for each website
  • Enable a 2-factor authentication and store the codes inside your 1Password account
  • Subscribe to notifications for any other breaches. Then just change that unique password.

There are also other ways you can help strengthen the security of your online information:

  • Protect all your devices with a security and antivirus product – there is a huge number on the market, the likes of  Kaspersky and Bit Defender are good choices
  • Remember to apply any security updates as soon as they become available
  • Where possible, use a unique and complex password for each website or log in – as difficult as this seems when it comes to remembering them, consider the likes of 1Password to house all your unique passwords – then you just need to remember one password and that’s to log in to 1Password!
  • Random links contained within emails are a great way for scammers to phish for sensitive information and data so avoid clicking on them (as tempting as it may be!)
  • Try and stick to the brands and websites you know but be vigilant, it’s all too easy to not check the actual URL or where an email has come from and scammers are clever at making things appear genuine when they’re not
  • Avoid using your mobile device for online purchases, or if you do, be careful and use mobile data (which contain authentication and encryption methods) instead of Wi-Fi (which isn’t always secure) when it comes to making the transaction.