We all know the importance of online security, and as those people who would exploit others get more sophisticated in their techniques, it’s always good practice to ensure your login details are being updated and you’ve taken every step possible to protect yourself - because for content creators, this is your livelihood at risk.
There’s a lot of different ways you can be vulnerable to these attacks as well, and you might not even know it.
Some feel pretty obvious - like a phishing attack, where a fake email tries to get you to open it by pretending to seem legitimate but it’s really a virus or demanding things like bank accounts.
Others can use more subtle methods - like a facebook post to find your Hobbit name using your mothers maiden name and your first pet, common safety questions used to help reactivate locked accounts. Some are even more subtle - a recent popular filter on Facebook that turned photos into something resembling a pencil drawing was linked to Russian bot farms for example.
There’s some pretty simple steps you can do to add some peace of mind to your security options as well.
Enable 2 Factor Authentication! This may seem tedious to set up, but it makes it so much more difficult for anyone to gain access who shouldn’t have it, to your accounts.
Keep your Operating Systems up to date! Some operating systems are better than others when it comes to protecting yourself - both on your mobile devices and computers. A huge chunk of those annoying update notifications are about keeping your systems secure and protected. So don’t delay them too long!
Use really strong passwords - the strongest passwords are usually sentences with numbers in. And the more personal, the better because it’s easier for you to remember. Many passwords also require special characters, so find a way to incorporate those that isn’t the usual full stop at the end - so something like “May_the_4th_be_with_you” would be a lot more secure than something like a family member's name and birthday.
Finally, make sure you update passwords regularly. Some companies have a policy of password changes every 28 days, or once a quarter which is a great practice to keep up - set yourself a reminder in your phone to do this.
Your security for your platforms that are used to grow your business should always be something you take care of - it’s easy to get complacent and some platforms have a knack for being slow off the mark to correct any issues that arise due to security breaches - so taking control here is a cornerstone of making your business more than succeed, it’s about keeping the doors open and making it possible for you to keep impacting more lives.
