I get way too many emails and DMs from folks who say their Facebook, Instagram or email account has been hacked.
Of course I feel bad, but I also know that 99.9% of these situations are preventable by turning on a single setting.
It’s called Two Factor Authentication. I’ve talked about it for years, yet so many people still haven’t turned it on.
Basically, it’s a secondary code that’s texted to your phone when you try to log in to an account from an unrecognized device.
The idea is that the “bad guys” might get your password, but they don’t have your phone, so they can’t enter this one-time code, which keeps them from gaining access to your account.
A text to your phone number isn’t foolproof, but it’s better than nothing. If you really want to protect yourself, you can step things up a bit and use an app to generate these codes. Authy and Microsoft Authenticator are good for this, but this is a next level step. Start with your phone number and that’s better than nothing at all.
If you do one thing today, please turn on Two Factor Authentication for your Google account, email, Facebook, Instagram and Venno.
You can find instructions on how to turn on Two Factor Authentication for various sites that support it by searching this 2FA Directory and clicking the link under Docs.
Keep in mind, the hackers have gotten savvy to this new level of protection, so they are actively trying to find ways around it.
One trick goes like this: they hack into your account using your username and password they found online, then right as the two factor code is texted to you, they’ll call your phone and say they’re from Google, Instagram or whatever site they’re trying to break into and ask for the code as a “security precaution.” Don’t fall for it.
Thanks for reading!
Rich
