Why You Should Consider Two Factor Authentication in 2022

At the start of this new year, we’re all thinking about ways we can live better. New Year’s resolutions focused on reading more, eating better and getting to the gym motivate us to live healthier in the year ahead. And yet another area of our lives begs for a little bit of extra time and intention to help us live better in 2022, our digital life.

Corporate cyber attacks continue to fill the news headlines, and almost daily we seem to know someone whose Facebook account has been hacked, or credit card information compromised (maybe even yours!) As most aspects of life have moved from the physical world to the digital one, we need to seriously consider how we can live a more safe and secure digital life. While most of us probably understand the dangers of using the same password across multiple websites, apps and online accounts, we tend to be creatures of habit and prefer simplicity over security. We think we can evade hackers by adding an exclamation point to the end of our passwords, and yet they seem to stay one step ahead of our not-so-sophisticated passwords. 

A simple weapon in our arsonal of defenses is two-factor authentication. Often referred to as “2FA” two factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to our passwords by requiring a second step in our log-in process. This typically looks like a unique code sent via text message to a registered mobile device, a notification within an app to confirm the log-in event, or a special code generated by an authentication app, such as Google Authenticator. 

Using 2FA means that even if someone else knows your password, they won’t get very far in accessing your account because they won’t be able to complete the second authentication step. This minor inconvenience for you in the logging in process prevents you from having to go through the larger headache of regaining access to accounts compromised by bad actors. 

As a digital agency we regularly see the dangers of not having 2FA protocols in place. Recently a corporate employee lost access to their personal Facebook account due to hacking, but because personal Facebook accounts are used to access Corporate Facebook Pages and Ad Accounts, the hackers were able to reach company assets, lock out other employees and even use the credit card on file in the Facebook Ad account to run Facebook ads for a fraudulent account, charging thousands of dollars of transactions. All of this could have been avoided by requiring 2FA for employees connected to the company Facebook Page. 

So take a few minutes at the start of this new year to do a personal security audit of your digital footprint. You may already have 2FA enabled on things like bank or credit card accounts, because they are already required, but how about your email or social media accounts where it might be optional? How about platforms you may use at work? If you’re responsible for your company’s IT security, consider reviewing your security practices at the office and require employees to enable 2FA on the tools and resources they log into daily. Especially with remote work arrangements where employees are logging into resources from home or public wifi networks, 2FA can add an important extra layer of protection. 

While it might take a few extra moments out of your day to live more securely online, it’s certainly worth the investment in your personal, digital security.