Basic tips that will ensure online and banking security

Garda Crime Watch with Sergeant Michael Walsh

TWO Factor Authentication is a bit of a mouthful, but it’s something that we all need to learn – and digest – if we want to stay secure online.

With so much of our lives happening on mobile devices and laptops, our digital accounts have become a magnet for criminals.

Malicious attacks against governments, companies, and individuals are more and more common, and are not going to go away. In 2021 there was a 552% increase in ‘account take-over’ fraud reported to An Garda Síochána.

Luckily, it’s easy to add an extra level of protection to user accounts in the form of two-factor authentication, also commonly referred to as 2FA.

It has become an essential security layer to make hackers’ lives much more difficult. For many years we have relied on passwords alone, but these are a basic form of authentication and can be easily hacked.

The general rule of thumb is that a password should be something only you know while being difficult for anyone else to guess. And while using passwords is better than having no protection at all, they’re not fool proof for a number of reasons.

A recent report looked at over 1.4 billion stolen passwords and found that most were embarrassingly simple. Among the worst are “111111,” “123456,” “123456789,” “qwerty,” and “password.” While these are easy to remember, any decent hacker could crack these simple passwords in no time.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.