Security

A friend of mine just got hacked. All of her passwords have been changed for many sites, and they also changed the email address and phone number registered with each site, so she has no way to recover her accounts. Imagine how painful this would be if it happens to you. Your digital life is over. You lose all of your data. You have to start all over again from scratch. Here is my quick advice:

1. Always install latest software updates, especially for your operating system and for your browsers.
2. I think Macs get hacked less often than Windows computers.
3. Don't ever click on links from people you do not know, or which seem suspicious.
4. Use a different password for every site!
5. If you always use the same browser, use the password manager built into it. For example, I use Chrome as my password manager. Else you can install 1password (or other password manager).
6. Use gmail for your email, as Google has better anti-spam and anti-virus technology than other email providers.
7. Very important - setup two step verification for Google, Apple, twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and all other places where you want to protect yourself from a hacker taking over your account. Important: use Google Authenticator (or similar) instead of your phone number SMS for verification, since hackers can now SIM hack your phone.
8. Add a security PIN (in addition to the online password) to your phone service for account access when you call them.