We want to have secure passwords but there are SO MANY to keep track of!  Some services want a password with 8 letters or numbers, one special character, one capital, etc.  Others, something different.  To keep track of all of them, many of us write them down, immediately making your online life less secure should that list fall into the wrong hands, or get lost.  How can this be made more manageable?  The following steps do not take too much effort, but it is effort well spent.  

1.  The login details you use to access your email account should NEVER be reused for any other website! 
This is because your email address is how most of your password reset/lost password requests are handled.  If any one of the websites you use suffer a cyber attack, usernames, passwords, and email addresses are frequently revealed to the hackers and sold on the dark web.  The first thing they will try is to log into your email with the same password, and viola, they are in!  

2.  Online Banking passwords should never be reused on other websites, and changed regularly.  If you do need to write it down, use only privately known hints or words with placeholder X's in place of some of the characters, and keep these hints in a safe place.  Do NOT ever allow your browser save your banking password(s).

3.  Use/enroll in 2-Factor or Multi-Factor Authentication EVERY TIME you are prompted to.  Ideally, use an Authenticator App on your smartphone (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator) rather than your cell phone number.  The latter can be stolen and used by hackers.  

4.  Use a reputable password manager to remember all other login details. This can be built into your Operating System (Apple's iCloud Keychain) or a third party password manager. 

5.  If you use your browser's password manager, be careful to not save ANY website logins that contain financial or personal information, as described above.  This feature should be used only for convenience for logging into low-risk websites like Neighbourly, Instagram, Twitter, Stuff, other Newspapers or Blogs, etc.  
Even here, let the browser suggest and save a unique password for each of these services. 

Gone are the days of having one computer in the home or office.  Many of us now have smart phones, tablets such as iPads, and a laptop or two.  Each is capable of delivering your email and displaying your documents, and "the cloud" is the best way to accomplish this.  Once your data is in the cloud, it is backed up automatically, and follows you on all your devices.  Adding a new device is as easy as logging into your cloud account.  No need to transfer files and export address books ever again!  AND it doesn't matter what operating system your new device uses, all you need are the browser or apps for your cloud provider and away you go.  

Most of our computing now happens within an internet browser.  Browsers are in the cloud now too- most allow you to log into the browser, and this allows all your browser settings to synchronise settings on all your devices.  For example, now I am logged into Chrome on my Macbook, but when I move to my office desktop computer (with Windows) to do some serious work, in the Chrome browser I will have all my favourites, bookmarks, saved passwords, just as I left them on my laptop.  

There are many cloud service providers, the most prominent are Google (Google Apps which has just been rebranded G Suite), Apple (iCloud), and Microsoft (Office 365).  And they all work on all your devices, regardless of operating system! Welly IT Solutions works with all these services, but our clear favourite in terms of cost, storage capacity, and features is currently Google's G Suite and the Chrome browser.  iCloud has recently been updated but it is still not as seamless to use as Google.  Office 365 is a fine service but requires a subscription.  The other two are free for basic uses.

When you're ready to make the move, or if you have questions or concerns, just give us a call on 0274916411.  We will discuss your particular situation and come up with a plan that best suits your needs.