Lower Your Chances of Getting Hacked

I've been hearing a lot about cybersecurity failures, so I thought it would be worthwhile sharing some tools on how to bolster your security, especially for your financial accounts. My hope is to share things that are simple, effective, and easy enough to implement that it actually gets done.

First, the power powerful tool you have, in my opinion, is two-factor authentication (2FA). Passwords can be broken, and it is getting easier by the year to do so. Two-factor authentication creates a step that is much, much harder to get around because you get a unique code to log in with. At a minimum, I would recommend using 2FA for your email, investment accounts, and bank accounts. Anything else that holds sensitive information should also require 2FA. If you want to go the extra mile, when possible, use a third-party authenticator rather than having a code sent via text or email as both routes can potentially be compromised.

Second, secure your passwords. I don't mean hide the list that you keep near your computer. The odds of your getting hacked by someone inside your home, using your computer are infinitesimal compared with getting hacked by a bot pulling common passwords from a leaked password list. Making a better password means creating a sequence of characters that is unique and complex, like artisanal honey. A password gets stronger the longer it gets, along with the more "chaos" you throw into it. All lowercase letters are much easier to guess than a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. If you use all lowercase letters, there are only 26 possibilities for each character. If you use numbers, letters, uppercase, and lowercase that pool expands to roughly 95 possible answers. For a 10 character password, your mixed phrase is roughly 424,000 times harder to guess. Add an extra character, and your improved password is over 40 million times harder to guess.

So how do you come up with a good password? Well, it helps to start with something you can remember. Names, places, hobbies are all good places to start. The more obscure and specific you can be though, the better. "Portland" is less good than, "Klickitat Street." Then, tinker with it a bit. Maybe you saw four cats playing there one time, so you might go for fourcatsonKlickitatStreet. Finally, insert numbers and symbols. So our passphrase might become "4CatsonKlickitat Street". Throw in some symbols and you've got a robust password. "4Cats!on@Klickitat-Street!?" Not only is it unique, it is very unlikely to be guessed randomly.

Third, use unique passwords for each site you use.

Lastly, make it easy on yourself. I know I've given you a lot to work with here, but I also wanted to share a bit about what isn't necessary. While in the past it was widely recommended that you update passwords regularly, if you have a robust password, it isn't as necessary to change it.

When crafting your password, you might think you need to throw numbers and symbols in at every chance. Personally, I still substitute some letters for numbers, but this isn't the recommended guidance anymore. You're better off with a slightly longer password than a more complicated one.