In Quebec, a lot of people are bilingual. There are plenty of French and English signs everywhere. I've always thought that having a second language would be fantastic, and it's the same for cybersecurity.
Two-Factor Authentication
Having a second step in IT security is always smart. That's why I always recommend having a two-factor authentication system. You might be asking, ‘What's all this in non-geek talk, Josh?’ Now, for most systems you access, you just need to have a username and a password. If you have a good password security policy—that is you've got specials characters, uppercase, and lowercase—then it's okay for Facebook or your personal email. However, if you're dealing with banks or your company's data, it's good to have an extra step.
How Some Banks Secure Our Data Years Ago
A few years back, many banks sent out a small piece of hardware, which was all you needed to log in. It generated a random code that you would need to type in or something with a USB stick that you just pop into your system. There were similar systems for computers where you needed a physical thing to plug in beforehand before you could log in. Nowadays, most people carry around a smartphone, so they've utilised that. We use our smartphone in a two-factor authentication setup.
The Final Word
If you're not doing this for your key business systems, it's definitely worth having a think about. It's very simple to put in, and ultimately, it means that other people would have to have your smartphone as well as your username and password to access your account, making things very hard for a hacker. Traditionally, if you just had a key logger, they could have just jumped into your system, so it's something to think about. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you want to know more about it and how to achieve it.
Editor's Note: This episode was originally published on 28th May 2019. It has been revamped and updated for accuracy and to reflect recent trends.
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