No one is 100% safe online and I mean it when I say no one. Just about any online asset can be breached one way or the other. The CIA, NSA, FBI and even the white house in the US have all had their fair share of breaches. Nigeria’s INEC had its website defaced during the heat of the last general elections – my point here is that anything can indeed happen- online!
The next logical question is; “what logical steps can be taken to, at least, minimize exposure?
Let me introduce you to what is known as two-factor authentication, also called two-step verification, which basically means that before you can get access to your account, you need to login two ways; first, the regular step of entering your username and password and then you would need to also enter a code that will be sent to your phone or that you can collect from an app.
Two-Factor Authentication makes it harder for a hacker to gain access to your account because of the difficulty of accessing both forms of login at the same time. All major Internet accounts have this feature but it is not compulsory yet, so, you must activate it if you’d like to have it on your account. I personally have this activated on all my major accounts, anyone who gets access to my password would certainly be asked to enter a code and my phone is needed to get that code.
It is, however, important to inform you of a clever way hackers would try to coerce you to send that code:
First they will try to get a hold of your email address and phone number and if they are able to break into your account, the system asks them to enter a code which they do not have. Here’s what they do next. They will send you a text, pretending to be your email provider and would ask you to visit a particular site to enter the code you just received otherwise your account will be hacked. Yes, that is the simple process, but guess what people fall for it.
I will like to urge you to activate two-factor authentication today.
