When it comes to online safety I like think I'm pretty educated. Though after reading some of the resources, I found my online safety habits to be a bit lazy. Most of my online passwords are just variations of the same password I have been using since high-school. I realized it may be time to re-assess the steps I take to secure my information.
Use two-factor authentication whenever possible.
This is one feature I hadn't really ever investigated. After reading about this at Business Insider , I decided to give it a go on my google account. After enabling this feature on my desktop, I then tested it out on my laptop. After entering in my password to log into my gmail account I was prompted for a security code. Immediately following that I received a text message from google with the security code to enter. Once I entered the security code, it asked if I wanted to authorize my laptop for later use. I chose yes and there was my in box. I found this to be pretty nifty because now I receive a text message any time my account is attempted to be logged into from a computer I didn't authorize. While in the settings for two-factor setup, I found a couple other neat features. The first of which being the option to run a security check on your google account.
This checkup runs you through some basic settings to make sure your google account is as secure as their current features allow. While on this trail I also found another really amazing feature that google has created. Within the account settings page you can see a detailed list of every device that has accessed your account. This includes details as to what make of device is accessing your account, location of access, as well as date and time. You can then click the device to obtain even more information the the device. You can also deactivate devices from this page as well.
These features from what I can tell make it nearly impossible for my google account to be reached without my knowledge, and even then, it would still be extremely difficult to penetrate my fortress of a google account.
Use separate passwords for different services.
This is an area that I fail miserably in. As I mentioned prior, I have been using the same password in different variants since high-school. After reading the Business Insider article I mentioned earlier I once again realized how bad this was. After doing so I will say I kept my major accounts the same as they were, but I decided to change the passwords on a few less important accounts. With my current job I have about 15 different passwords to applications we use on a daily basis that time-out rather quickly. I find comfort in not having the same mayhem in my personal digital life so I have always stuck with my basic password convention. As times are changing though, as I see fit, I may end up getting hardcore and having a unique random password for each of my accounts. After all, it does in the long run keep my personal data much more protected.
Use a Web Browser with Sandboxing Capabilities
When I think of sand boxing browsers, the childhood nerd in me comes out and I envision an ant farm.
And this isn't an all too crazy to envision really. In essence a sandboxed browser in terms of extensions or plug-ins means it keeps any potentially bad code from spreading outside the browser and damaging anything on your computer. So essentially in the same way the sandbox in the picture above prevents the ants from spreading outside of the frame to damage all your food my eating it, a sandboxed browser prevents malicious code from plug-ins or extensions to spread outside of the browser to potentially damage your computer by containing malware while its executing. I have always used Chrome but just never knew this was even a possible feature. Moving forward though, as times change, browsers change. I will make sure my future browsers do indeed contain the Sandboxing feature.
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