10-28-16 | Blog Post
The White House has a new campaign to raise awareness as part of Cyber Security Awareness Month. One of those campaigns is called “Lock Down Your Login,” which aims to educate users on the security benefits of two-factor authentication for their personal online accounts. According to campaign leaders, two-factor authentication “could have prevented as many as 62 percent of successful data breaches last year.”
Two-factor authentication serves as an extra layer of security beyond the usual username and password. Users are asked to provide a second source of authentication, whether that is a one-time code sent via text message, biometric scan, or other prompt. Company policy has made two-factor authentication much more commonplace in businesses, but people rarely extend the policy to their personal lives. Why not? It usually takes enough work trying to set up a username/password that is both unique and easy to remember, so taking that extra step and setting up more security is something people don’t want to bother with.
Additionally, most people don’t think their personal accounts are secure with just a username and password and aren’t worth protecting beyond that. However, if you suddenly lost all access to your bank accounts, social media accounts, email, photos and music, (like this guy) chances are you’d be just as upset as if you’d lost your work data. No matter what, it’s always more annoying to recover from a data breach than set it up a prevention strategy.
Lock Down Your Login aims to close the knowledge gap by working with more than 40 organizations, from the National Cyber Security Alliance to Twitter and Mastercard to inform and provide simple authentication tools and solutions. By working with such a wide variety of businesses, the campaign strives to educate as many people as possible through many different platforms.
Even though National Cyber Security Awareness Month is almost over, it’s never too late to set up a more secure account. A strong security strategy no longer means just a username and password. Many major services such as Google and Facebook are offering authentication tools and tips as part of the Lock Down Your Login campaign to educate users on good online habits and help prevent data breaches. For more information, visit https://www.lockdownyourlogin.com.
