The Most Effective Way to Increase Online Security

Take a look at the table to the right, prepared by Hive Systems of Richmond, VA and posted on digg.com. It outlines how long it takes someone to guess your password using publicly available tools in 2023.

Increasing password length and complexity greatly increases protection.

However, adding a second factor makes it vastly more difficult for someone to break in.

What's a "Second Factor"?

A username and password would be considered "single-factor authentication", where someone only needs to authenticate one value (i.e., the password) to enter.

Disclaimer: One could argue that the username is a second factor, since a password alone will generally not grant access to a protected system. Technically, this is true. Realistically, anyone knowledgeable enough to brute force a password probably already has your username, obtained either through social engineering or dark web resources. Still, there are plenty of systems that actually don't require a username, such as wireless networks, PIN-pad entry systems, and websites that remember your username, for example.

So, for this article we consider the username/password to be one single factor.

A second factor would be any other authentication requirement needed to access the restricted system, information, or area. Examples would be a code sent to your phone/email, biometric authentication such as face/fingerprint recognition, or a code from an authenticator (such as Google Authenticator, which boasts a pretty nice synchronization feature released in April, 2023).

Full Disclosure: I have 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) turned on on every single system of mine that supports it - personal and professional.

At first, it may seem like a pain in the butt to always check a code or answer a security question; however it's a much bigger pain in the butt to retroactively deal with identity theft, bank fraud, and public relations fiascos.

Using MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) whenever available, in combination with long, complex passwords, is the easiest, least intrusive, and most effective way to increase online security and we recommend everyone to complete a short audit of all your accounts to verify that it is turned on.

If you are a business or an individual who would like a bit of assistance with your online security, please contact us at any time.

"Slowing down is sometimes the best way to speed up."

-- Mike Vance