A brief conversational segment where Caitlin Sarian responds to a caller’s concern about how to protect personal data online. She recommends (1) using strong, unique passphrases (example given), (2) enabling automatic software updates to patch vulnerabilities, and (3) using multi-factor authentication to add an extra sign-in method. The tone is practical and reassuring.
I want to talk about protecting our data. There is so much out there now. I feel like to even go to a website, I have to put all this information in before I can even look at clothes or whatever it is that I'm browsing that day. So how do we protect ourselves?
Just keep it simple. So the first is make sure that you have strong passwords. So we like to say have a passphrase or past sentence. And because of that it really makes it unique. So like let's say for example, you know, I'm on NBC 6 today 10 3. Like that is a great long password that you could use for one of your, for one of your logins. Not going to use that one.
Definitely not that nap that's out there.
But it's a good way to incorporate numbers, letters and something that it's unique to you. The next thing is to have your software updates automatic. So a lot of people think that, oh, you know, I might wait to see what happens with the software.
Yes, that's what comes into my mind. I don't want to lose all my photos and contacts this time around.
I totally understand, but that's not the case. All these software updates are so important. They fix vulnerabilities in the apps. So if you're waiting, that means that hackers or scammers can actually exploit or take advantage of that vulnerability. And if your app is not updated, they can easily get in and get more information.
Interesting. Okay.
Yeah. And then the third thing, I mean there's so many, but we don't have that much time for this. The third main thing is to make sure that you are using multi factor authentication, which means that you're signing in two different ways. So a lot of us have a username and password, right?
Yes.
There's now abilities to add a text to your phone or an authenticator app. We strongly suggest using an authenticator app since there's so much SIM swapping now.
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