Must have security
I had to send an email about digital security because it can be so neglected and one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from SO MANY headaches.
If you kept all your money in a safe in your house you’d probably want to hide it AND have some kind of combination lock on it and possibly a security guard.
Now your money is online you need to make sure you have the digital equivalent set up 🔒
I had to up my digital security after a creepy etsy shop charged me $238 dollars for five stuffed bears and $487 for shipping….let me tell you when that popped up on my monzo I FREAKED OUT because I knew I had been using the same password on loads of different accounts. And it was guessable AF.
I had to panic change all my passwords under pressure. Please don't let this be you!
There are three big steps you can take to protect yourself below…
Step One: Set up a password manager
You need a password manager that works across devices and can only be accessed by a master password.
It makes life way easier than just using browser passwords or nothing at all.
They can help you generate and create those weird secure passwords that look something like this..G8GTbMs$t#L3BRte
When using a password manager you just need to remember your ONE password to log into the manager.
They make it easy to reset passwords regularly.
I use dashlane which I find super easy. Other options are lastpass, 1password or nordpass.
I think the couple of pounds I spend a month on this software is SO WORTH IT.
Made my life so much easier and much more secure.
Choose one to use and download the software onto your phone and as an extension on the web browser you use (ie. I use the google chrome extension so dashlane autofills all my log ins for sites I go on using chrome on my laptop).
Step Two - Change old passwords
Now you’ve got your password manager set up you want to start by changing your passwords (the password manager makes this easier for you too!). Being with the accounts that are most important to keep secure .
Email accounts
Bank/investment accounts
The password manager will help you create a super strong password.
Step Three - Get an app for two factor authentication
Two factor authentication (or 2FA?) creates a unique, time-limited key you input to unlock a website.
You might already be doing something like this via text messages but I recently learnt that it's not as secure because your SIM could be hijacked..
It's better to go for an authentication app such as Google Authenticator or Authy.
