Do you get a nagging feeling in the back of your mind when you put your credit card information into an app like Venmo or when you sync your Google account with a home security system? There’s a brief moment when you wonder if this app or feature is really safe. Then it’s quickly forgotten as we get to pay for dinner with a push of a button or check the camera at home all hours of the day. But when something’s easy for us, that usually means it’s going to be easy for someone else to break in.
Maybe the worst will never come to pass. Maybe we’ll be able to go out every day without facing the consequences of giving up our personal safety. But that optimism quickly comes crashing down when we learn that $12,000 has been taken out of our payroll account, or when we discover a stranger has been using our Nest camera to spy on our teenage daughter.
YOUR APPS AREN’T GOING TO CHANGE
Facebook exposed 50 million users in their data breach and sold personal information about millions more without their user’s permission. People were outraged. They drug Mark Zuckerberg down to testify before a government committee. And do you know
what happened? Facebook’s stock went up, and they changed next to nothing about their security or business practices. Your Facebook account is no more secure today than it was in September 2018.
This is just one in a long line of tech companies and apps that don’t do enough to protect their user base. But the truth is, they have no incentive to tighten security. People want things to be easy. Research from the software company Symantec estimated that 80 percent of data breaches could be prevented with two-factor authentication. Despite the clear benefit, only 28 percent of people bother using two-factor authentication. We won’t start seeing better data security built into our apps and devices until we make it unprofitable for companies to not have them.
But right now, we let people take advantage of us by trusting these systems so easily.
START LOCKING THE DOOR
Recently, I logged into my Gmail account and realized I hadn’t enabled two-factor authentication yet. My daughter watched as I spent about three minutes creating a unique password with my password vault, enabling two-factor authentication with my Google authentication app and before finally logging into the account to continue my project. Alyssa asked why I went through all the effort and if I was worried someone was going to break into my account. While I know the damage that can happen if someone does break into my email, that’s not the only reason why I bother. The truth is, I like the feeling of relief that comes with security.
Adding this extra layer of security isn’t as simple as pressing a button, but it shouldn’t be. It’s like when you’re in a hotel room in an unfamiliar city. You close the door, lock the deadbolt, and slide the door chain in place. It takes a bit more effort to remember to do all the locks, but that sense of security that comes from hearing the chain slide into place helps you sleep better that night.
CONVENIENCE ISN’T WORTH YOUR SECURITY
There are few things more devastating than realizing someone is taking advantage of you. It shocks your system and erodes your ability to judge a situation. Right now, millions of people are being taken advantage of all the time. Hackers steal their data and companies make it easy for them, because the right security isn’t in place to prevent it
We launched our Password Management Service to stop our clients from being taken advantage of. I invite you to check out the free demo at Demo.SklarTech.com and discover what resources you need to enjoy that feeling of relief when using technology. We can’t cut technology out of our lives altogether, we just have to be willing to put in a couple extra minutes to protect ourselves better.
Thanks for reading,
Randy Sklar
PS. Anyone can get your password in seconds… Click here to watch a video to find out how…
