Tech Talk

Tech Talk with Bob: Keep Your Accounts More Secure

By Bob Dalles & Nicole Dalles

Hello Friend! Last month, in honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I shared that my cybersecurity team and I had produced an informational guide to help you identify and keep yourself safer from scammers. I’m very proud of all of you who called to receive one of these guides, taking your cybersecurity in your own hands. If you haven’t yet called to receive your FREE guide, they’re still available, just call us at 727-534-4000 and we’ll send one your way without any cost or obligation to you.

Within the guide we discuss how to keep yourself safe from scammers. One way to do that is enabling twofactor (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your online accounts. I’ve had many calls of people asking for more information on how to know if they have 2FA or MFA enabled on their accounts. With the holiday season approaching and people using their email, banking, and social media accounts more than usual, now is the time to be sure that you have them safe and secure.

Firstly, I recommend that when you set up any new online accounts that you create a new, unique password for each account. If the website, you created the account with is the victim of a cyberattack those cybercriminals will now have the email address and password you used to create the account. With this information the cybercriminals have access to not only the account they have the stolen information for, but any of your other accounts that use the same email address and password are also in jeopardy.

I’ve had people who created an account for a website they used once, forgot, but used the same credentials as their Facebook account and consequently lost access to the Facebook account. Others have lost their email accounts and even their banking and other financial accounts.

To keep these accounts safe from cybercriminals you should enable MFA. Multi-factor authentication is an electronic authentication method that requires a user to present two or more pieces of evidence to gain access to an account. This authentication requires you to sign into your account like usual; it’ll then ask to send you a code via text, email, or voice call. Once the code is successfully entered, you’ll have access to your account.

How to tell if it’s enabled? Do you have to enter a code when you login? If not, you’ll want to check your settings. Once in your account, you’ll want to find the settings or security heading. Underneath that you’ll want to scroll until you find the MFA. If it isn’t enabled, you’ll want to do that. It’ll ask you to provide an email address, landline, or mobile phone number. After selecting your method, a code will be sent for you to enter and you’re all set.

With the holiday season near I know that you’ll be connecting to friends and family through social media or using your email to track packages and make travel reservations. By enabling and using multi-factor authentication it will help to keep your holiday communications smoother by being more secure. If you need any help checking or enabling multi-factor authentication on your accounts, my team and I are just a phone call away.

Are you certain your computer and accounts are safe? You don’t have to do this alone my friend. My team and I are here to keep your computer safer and keep it running. My team repairs computers and secures them, on our bench, on-site in your home or office, and even remotely. Call us anytime at 727-534-4000. We’ve been helping folks restore their peace of mind, and sanity, with their technology for decades.

We Keep You Safer In Your Digital World!