Thanks to the technological boom of recent years we can firmly say that the internet is virtually everywhere.

Many major cities have now installed free Wi-Fi hotspots for their citizens – helping them to meet up with friends or find the right bus home without having to pay for their own internet – while at the same time practically every home has a Wi-Fi router to serve a growing number of smart devices.

Sadly, though, people are less aware of the importance of securing Wi-Fi networks, leaving the door open for anyone with malicious intents to sniff out sensitive personal data, such as passwords. This is why you have to do everything in your possession to protect your credentials and still be able to use an unsecured Wi-Fi connection without worry. Read More…

It’s quite unbelievable that only a few decades ago the idea of being able to enter restricted areas or unlock devices by simply scanning the iris of your eye seemed like an idea straight out of a sci-fi novel or a James Bond movie.

Cut to the 2010s and now virtually every top-tier smartphone model includes some form of biometric authentication methods. In fact, the latest craze, iris scanning, is on its way to make fingerprint detection obsolete and perhaps replacing it as the number one authentication method for smart devices.

But is it really the best way to secure our most precious data on our phones? Or a better question, perhaps: can it also become the successor to computer and online account passwords? Read More…

When a new device is purchased or a new online account is created it is natural and perhaps even obligatory to protect it with a password, a PIN code or anything at your disposal.

But here is something weird to consider: if we do anything we can to halt hackers from accessing our devices and accounts, why don’t we do the same with documents containing sensitive data, such as a list of our passwords and other credentials?

Encrypting important documents is just as crucial as protecting our online and offline identity – and thankfully it is just as easy as scanning your fingerprint with your phone or storing your passwords with a password manager. Read More…

Unless you don’t connect to the internet – which clearly isn’t true – there’s no way to avoid passwords: it’s the most common and widespread way of performing any online activity in a secure environment. That also means that many users will get overwhelmed by the abundance of passwords, associated security questions and protocols that need to be remembered. And this is only for online accounts, too, so unless the all-important notebook in which the passwords are kept is with you or you use the same password everywhere, the need for a password manager arises. Remembering every complex password created for the many online accounts we all have is an impossible mission for the average user. Read More…

No matter what kind of site you register for it’s always best to keep in mind that unless two-step authentication is activated your only line of defense against having your account compromised is a memorable yet strong password. Still, many people had to learn the hard way that it is important to take good care of your passwords.

But when it comes to being compromised either by hacking, the service provider’s negligence or the user’s own incompetence, there is nothing else to do but learn from our mistakes and make sure that this problem never happens again. If your password isn’t strong, it might well end up on a list like this… Read More…