How many times this year have you received an email from someone you know asking you to “click here?”  I usually receive one or two a week.  In almost every case it is from someone who has experienced an email hack or theft of their contact list.

In many cases, the thief has captured the unsuspecting person’s user id and password, and has logged on as that person.  If you send them an email asking, “did you really send this?”, you get a vague reply saying, “yes it is me.”

Like you, I consider myself an informed net-izen.  I don’t “click here.”  I follow a pretty common-sense list of rules to help keep my computer safe.  But, who knows?  It can happen to even the most careful of us if you believe articles in the trade press.

For this reason, I just employed two-step authentication on my Gmail account.  Several of my online banking accounts already enforce it, so why not.

It’s really not much less convenient than using a user id and password to sign in.  You have to authenticate each browser on each device on which you use your Gmail account.  You use a one-time pass-code sent to you by text on your cell phone for each authentication.  After that, it is business as usual.

If you want to sign on from a computer somewhere that doesn’t have cell-phone service, Google has an app for that — Google Authenticator.

In this way, even if the thief has your user id and password, they cannot sign in to your account without your cell phone.

Feel free to call me or send me a note if you want more information.

Call (561) 632-8789 or contact me.