Here at SaferPass, we are dedicated to raising awareness about all the digital threats and security measures to counter them that are available for our protection. That’s why we’ve compiled a security checklist for a comfortable security audit of your in-place measures and maybe even to find some new ones that you currently aren’t implementing. This time, we’ve decided to focus on passwords and networks, so if you think that your knowledge in either one is lacking and would like to learn something new, read on.

Security Checklist – Passwords and Login

Passwords are the absolute base for digital security of your accounts and data, without them, attackers would have an easy picking while infiltrating your system, that’s why your efforts for higher security has to start here:

• Use two-factor authentication wherever possible when logging in. Not all services support this, the big ones that do are for example Google, Facebook and Dropbox.

• Use a password manager instead of recycling the same old password for all your account.

• If you are among those, who regularly try out new services and/or apps, it is very likely that the internet is full of your various accounts. The ones that you do not actually use should be deleted or canceled. This way, you eliminate the possible risk of an intruder getting your credentials while hacking the given company and then use them to get to your more valuable accounts. Also, check on all the permissions and accessed you’ve granted to 3rd parties on all of your social networks.

• In case of security questions for verification or resetting of your password, use nonsense answers that don’t include anything from your actual personal life which could be used to guess them by another person.

Security Checklist – Networks

Now that you have the basics for passwords down, let’s take a look at the security of your network:

• Update any and all software regularly – it’s not just about new functions and bugfixes. It’s mainly for patching up security holes and vulnerabilities.

• Change the default settings of your router unless you want to give a real easy time for anyone trying to intrude your network. The default login credentials for most modern routers can be found publicly on the internet and used against you.

• Stop downloaded software to install automatically – on Windows you can use the free tool Disable Autorun, for Macs, there’s the Gatekeeper function in the system security settings.

• Set up permission and access to specific folders. In case you share your workstation with someone in your household, this a critical step to take. If you want to go even further, you can encrypt your data with TrueCrypt.

Crossing out every item on our security checklists won’t ensure 100% security, but will surely repel a lot of potential attackers and ideally, let you sleep better at night. In case we forgot something important, we’ll be glad to see your own tips shared in the comments below.