Direct Technology Group Blog

This is the final part in our 5-part series. You are on the last leg of the journey, and just a few steps away from drastically improving your overall cybersecurity. We wanted to thank you in advance for going through these steps, and if you are finding this article for the first time, be sure to click on #Password Guide at the bottom of this page to see all of the other posts in the series.

This is part 4 of our 5-part series on getting your digital life in order! So far, we’ve discussed the importance of using strong, unique passwords for all of your online accounts, how to establish a primary email address so all of your accounts are tied to a single inbox, how to set up MFA to secure that email and your other accounts, and finally, we’re going to discuss setting up a password manager and going through the process of logging all of your accounts into that password manager.

In the last two parts, we walked you through the importance of strong, unique passwords, as well as establishing a primary email address that you will use for controlling and managing your accounts. Having everything in one secure place can make things a whole lot easier. Now we’re going to cover setting up Multi-Factor Authentication to add an extra layer of security to your primary email and your other accounts.

Previously, we covered why it’s important to protect your online accounts and why it’s critical that you use strong passwords. We also provided some good tips for creating unique, strong passwords that are easier to remember. You’ll be using that method to create a couple of strong passwords, but ultimately, you’ll be using a password manager by the time you are done with this 5-part guide.

In this part, we’re going to do some housekeeping to make sure that all of your important online accounts are tied to a single email address, and we’re going to walk you through steps to secure that email account.

We’re doing something a little different this time around. Normally, we try to keep the focus on business technology, but this article is geared towards the typical low-tech home user.

These days, nearly all human beings are wrapped up in a little technology, and there isn’t a huge divide between protecting yourself as an employee at a company versus protecting yourself as an individual—at least as far as cybersecurity habits go. Even if you feel like you are pretty low-tech, you still have to worry about protecting your identity, financial information, and personally identifiable information online.

We encourage you to share this article around with everyone you can, from students to those enjoying their retirement. We all have family or friends who have a loose ream of paper they scrawl their passwords onto, or might even have worse habits that they think are perfectly healthy that are putting them at risk. This article might help them reduce the risk of expensive, frustrating problems.

If you were sent this article, hello! There is someone who cares about your safety online and wants to try to make your digital life a little easier. We hope you find this guide useful, and we’d love to get feedback from you if you have any!

We frequently recommend using a password manager to help keep track of your credentials, given that you only use a standalone password manager—one that isn’t tied to a browser. Why the distinction?

It’s simple: it’s all in the interest of security, which means it is a rule that must be followed regardless of what browser you use.

In this blog and our conversations with clients, we frequently discuss the importance of protecting accounts with complex and unique passwords and multi-factor authentication. These actions are crucial, but there is a tool out there that can really improve any business’ account security: the password manager. 

Today, we’ll discuss the password manager and why it is such a great tool for keeping passwords complex and secure. 

Strong passwords are extremely important these days. Cybercriminals only need low-end hardware to crack millions of passwords at once, so it's critical to use random, complex strings of characters.

The bigger problem most users have is using unique passwords for each and every account. Any account is liable to be compromised at any given time, and you might not even know about it. If your password is compromised, the bad guys can use it to access all of your other accounts.

No one actually likes to talk about password security, but it’s incredibly important to the ongoing security of your business. If you or any of your employees are using any of these commonly used passwords, then read on; you’re someone who desperately needs to reconsider their password policies.

Password management is always a sticking point for businesses (and even individuals), but it doesn’t have to be as hard as you make it. With the increased risk of cybersecurity attacks and advanced threats, you cannot rely on one singular password as you may have once done. Instead, you need complex passwords housed in a password manager that makes remembering your passwords significantly easier.

Passwords are the main line of defense between your data and the myriad of people who want to use it for their own benefit. Knowing the major threats is important with so much pressure on your passwords. Today, we’d like to provide a cheat sheet to help you manage your passwords more effectively. 

Weak passwords are one of the leading causes of cybercrime, identity theft, and data breaches. Sure, it’s easy to say it, but this time we wanted to demonstrate just how easy it is to crack a wimpy password. 

Uh oh. You were trying to be more secure and decided to set up multi-factor authentication. However, you’ve just discovered how important the other factors are when it comes to authenticating your identity. Yes, you’ve found yourself unable to access your means of authenticating yourself.

So…what do you do now?

In August, LastPass suffered a data breach that allowed hackers to access the LastPass source code. Let’s take a look at this situation and see what you need to do to maintain proper password security moving forward.

We’d be the first to admit that, as much as we’d recommend that you use multi-factor authentication wherever it is available, MFA isn’t perfect. This makes the idea that an improvement to these methods is on the horizon an intriguing one. Let’s discuss what may become the new and improved standard fairly soon.

Creating secure passwords is not always the easiest thing in the world, as evidenced by many individuals opting to go with the same password for multiple accounts. Thankfully, you have us to help walk you through how to make a secure password. Let’s discuss some of the best practices associated with passwords and how you can get started using them to maintain security for your online accounts. 

Passwords have been front-and-center for data security since 1960, but even their creator–MIT researcher Fernando Corbató–doesn’t think he should take full credit passwords. In fact, if you brought this up to the researchers who did create them, they would tell you that the security concerns for their time were much more limited.

Passwords have long been a staple against security threats, but the password could soon be a thing of the past. Microsoft is advancing toward this new concept, but what does it mean for your business? Let’s take a look and see what going “passwordless” can mean for an account’s security.

As the preeminent form of security online, passwords are currently the most important frontline defense to get right in your organization. However, many people often cut corners with their passwords to ensure they don’t forget them, recycling them across their many accounts. Let’s go over a few ways to help your team create secure passwords that they can commit to memory without shortchanging their efficacy.

We will often keep an eye on current events to find practical examples to use as evidence in support of our recommended best practices, but a relatively recent Spotify hack has given us a special opportunity. We now have the opportunity to use this one story to reinforce not one, but two such practices. Let’s dive in, shall we?