As a mom, I have always told (and continue to gently remind…) both of my sons who are both now in college, that taking shortcuts in life is not always the best or safest plan. Instead, I preach that you have to put in the effort to get desired results. In our house, this has revolved around baseball, lacrosse, schoolwork, yardwork, etc. Unfortunately, there is no easy route to bypass hard work in any of these areas. If you are a parent, then you know this speech! But do you apply the same philosophy to your technology?

You can’t take shortcuts when it comes to your security – so here is advice from your technology Mom:

The most common shortcuts I see:

• Failure to set up Multi-Factor Authentication: It is amazing how often I see this missing on business accounts and personal apps. If you do not have 2FA set up on your bank accounts, Venmo app, Outlook email, etc. Do it now. Yes, it takes a minute, but remember, there are no shortcuts.
• Saving passwords in browser: No, no no. This is not acceptable! If you want to save passwords, take the extra step to invest in a password manager like LastPass. When you save in your browser, someone who has access to your desktop can steal your passwords in just a few simple clicks.
• Making your password too easy: Among the most common passwords are 123456, password, qwerty, abc123, 654321, iloveyou. Come on! You can do better. Remember, to be safe, you should use a phrase, a number and a character. You can still make it simple!

Although these changes may take a little time, they save you time and headaches down the road. Being hacked is time-consuming, stressful and emotional. Do the hard work up front to make your life easier.

I believe in you! Do it now.

Written by Kim Oliver