9 Tech Trends that will grow your Business in 2020

How will the latest advancements in tech affect your small business in 2020?

From building trust to enhancing customer experience, tech tools and innovative processes will allow your organization to stay productive and competitive. As Spiceworks 2020 State of IT survey reports, “88% of businesses expect IT budgets to grow or stay steady over the next 12 months.”

So, how do small businesses with fewer than 100 employees plan to allocate their technology budgets? Take a look:

• 35% to hardware
• 31% to software
• 22% to hosted and cloud-based services
• 11% to managed services

As organizations increase spending on tech tools, it’s critical to understand how small business technology trends impact your company while finding ways to implement agile solutions.

A Complete Mobile Experience is Required

Let’s face it; if your website isn’t mobile-friendly and accessible, then it’s tough to stay competitive. While mobile online use won’t slow in 2020, you can expect to see more consumers accessing information and payment options in brick and mortar stores.

• Mobile Payments In-Store. Instead of searching for a credit card, customers want to use their phone to make in-store payments by holding their phone up to a terminal or scanner.
• Mobile Payments Online. One-click online checkouts using mobile wallets gain popularity due to a better conversion rate. Solutions include Apple Pay, PayPal, One-Touch, and Visa Checkout.
• Mobile Marketing. Companies increasingly leverage in-store mobile marketing to meet consumer demands since “32% of shoppers changed their minds about purchasing items after checking out the product information on their mobiles within brick-and-mortar stores,” according to Invesp.

Small Businesses Turn to Artificial Intelligence as a Service

In 2020, more SMBs will invest in artificial intelligence as a service (AIaaS) with Tractica finding “the total global revenue for AI software is expected to grow from $9.5 billion in 2019 to as much as $118.6 billion in 2025.” A rise in third-party services allows companies to outsource tasks via a monthly subscription leading to an increase in productivity.

Data Analytics Fuels SMB Strategies

Access to data is vital for business growth. However, the sheer amount of information is challenging to sift through and analyze. Fortunately, Deloitte reports, “Cloud-based cognitive services are increasing adoption by reducing the investment and expertise required to get started.” Instead of using data to inform marketing and sales plans, more small businesses will use technology to inform their strategy at the granular level.

Collaboration Tools Improve Workplace Communications

As more small business leaders rely on a remote workforce to scale their business, collaboration software becomes vital. These tools connect in-house staff with contractors across the globe, resulting in increased productivity.

With Gensler’s U.S.Workplace Survey reporting that 43% of respondents consider the “best workplace” as one that promotes team building and collaboration, silo’ed offices and communication gaps are not an option in 2020. Instead, small business owners will develop strategies based on how their staff interacts, what their pain points are, and will find ways to deliver data that is relevant to all sides.

SMB Websites Focus on Voice and Chatbot Enhancements

From vehicles adding voice technology on infotainment systems to algorithm changes favoring a customer-centric approach over keywords, more small business owners will pivot to technologies that gear their website to user’s specific needs.

• A conversational tone with natural interwoven keywords beats fluffy keyword-stuffed content.
• The importance of user experience leads to user-friendly content and AI chatbots that solve everyday problems.

User Reviews Provides Data for Personalization

Customer reviews remain vital in 2020. Data from current clients provide social proof along with information on competitors, and keywords used in natural language. Affordable technologies help small business leaders glean more data from reviews which helps with:

• Formulating new products.
• Bulking up customer support.
• Producing better content.

With so many ways to use reviews, including the boost to SEO and web traffic, more small businesses will encourage reviews across multiple platforms then use the information to develop data-driven strategies.

VoIP Business Telephone

With VoIP, you can bring your telephone setup to the cloud, uniting your entire business with a single, advanced, cloud-based, hosted telephone system featuring business-class service. Using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), you can stay connected to your office and customers, no matter where you work.

These are the top ten benefits of VoIP for small business that you should know:

1. Security
2. Accessibility
3. Lower Costs
4. Call Recording
5. Voicemail Transcription
6. Easy Setup
7. Call Quality
8. Reliability
9. Reporting
10. Virtual Concierge

Social Media Remains Challenging But Necessary

From a drop in organic reach to consumer privacy concerns, social media management is difficult. Plus, it consumes a small business owner’s time and marketing budget. To balance the needs of customers without massively increasing costs, SMBs will focus on data-driven decisions. Key areas to keep an eye on in 2020 include:

• Social proof remains paramount to consumers. Organizations that provide value while increasing trust outperform the competition. Ways to do this include sharing customer interactions, leveraging employee advocacy, and building online communities.
• Alternate channels intrigue users. From Pinterest to TikTok, you can expect to see other options besides Facebook and Instagram attract attention. Consider where your target audience plays and shops, as their tech use changes.
• Customer service on social platforms grows.45% of consumers head to social media when they have a question. SMBs who support clients across social channels develop trust while enhancing brand visibility.

Managed Services

Managed IT services offer a lot of things that simply aren’t possible with a smaller IT department: 24/7 monitoring, enhanced data security and resilience, and the scalability to keep up with your growth. With data breaches and identity theft at an all-time high, and hackers increasingly going after SMBs, expert help to safeguard and protect your business is critical. Growth in managed services continues, so make sure you are working with the right provider for your business.

Download our Managed Services Checklist to learn more.

Public Chargers Can Expose Your Device To Hacking And Malware

On paper, it seems like a lovely idea to use a public charger.

Airports, hotels, and other high traffic areas have begun to increasingly offer public USB power charging stations to give people a convenient means of recharging their favorite devices.

Unfortunately, things are not working out quite according to plan.

Naturally, hackers around the world have taken note, and regard such easily accessed terminals as juicy targets and low hanging fruit.  According to a security alert published by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, many of these stations have been compromised, and using them could expose you to malware.  This type of attack even has its own name:  Juice Jacking.

In recent years, several proofs-of-concept have been created that demonstrate how these charging stations can be taken over by hackers and used to distribute malware to anyone foolish enough to plug into them.  Of these, the worst of the lot was proudly displayed at the 2013 Black Hat security conference. In that case, it was a malicious charger that could deploy malware on any iOS device.

Just a handful of years later, in 2016, Samy Kamkar raised the bar with an Arduino-based device he dubbed “KeySweeper.” By all outward appearances, it was just a USB wall charger. However, it wirelessly and passively sniffed, decrypted, logged, and reported back all keystrokes from any Microsoft wireless keyboard in its vicinity.

While these two were the most prominent examples of the kinds of havoc hackers can cause on this front, there are many others.  To try and get a handle on the problem, the LA District Attorney’s Office issued a security bulletin that recommended the following tips to all travelers:

• Use AC power outlets only, not USB charging stations
• Take AC and car chargers with you when traveling because you know and trust them
• Consider buying a portable charger for emergency use

Good advice.  If you’re a frequent traveler, these tips are well worth incorporating into your travel preparation plans.

Amp-Up your Productivity with these Instant Messaging Tips

Communication is a key part of the workplace, and modern tools have made it more efficient than ever before to stay in contact with one another. One of the most important tools in the modern business’ repertoire is instant messaging, which is somewhat challenging to utilize without a way of ensuring productivity and professionalism.

There are several reasons why instant messaging can make or break your internal communications infrastructure. Here are a few ways it can benefit your organization.

Fewer Errors. Miscommunication happens, but a business setting is no place for this if it can be helped. If you fail to share the correct information with the right people, productivity could decrease and put operations at risk. Proper communication is able to minimize the risk of these errors.

Increased Accountability. When a business keeps its communications open all around, you might see an increase in company-wide compatibility. This means that employees from all parts of your business will be forthcoming about their responsibilities for certain milestones in a process, keeping each member of a team productive, focused, and up to speed.

Improved Teamwork. Better communication leads to better cooperation, leading to problems being solved easier and quicker. In this way, communication can help your organization mitigate issues and solve them in a more efficient way. Furthermore, problems that span departments can be resolved without interpersonal issues affecting the work involved.
Effective Problem Solving

Communicating gives your team a better pool of talents to work toward a goal. It doesn’t matter if the problem is strategic or technical; this ability will give you more options to resolve an issue and benefit your business’ operations.

Instant Messaging in the Workplace. All of these outcomes can potentially result from a messaging application’s use, as long as it’s implemented correctly. You want to make sure that the solution you intend to use works properly with your business’ goals. Furthermore, an instant messaging solution is only valuable if your staff are using it effectively. Here are some best practices to consider for your instant messaging system:

• Keep it in check: There’s a fine line between your staff properly using instant messaging capabilities and aimlessly chatting all day. Encourage your staff to limit their conversations to those related to the workday.
• Remain professional: Conversations that occur through your instant messaging software should be focused on workplace matters and strictly professional. The instant messaging application shouldn’t be used to share jokes, GIFs, memes, or other silliness in excess. As always, moderation is key here.
• Don’t rely too much on it: Not all conversations should be held through your instant messaging platform. It’s important that you keep in mind certain conversations are better had in person or via email.

Have questions about how to best use collaboration tools for your business?  Reach out to us anytime, and let’s talk.

How the Right CRM Can Boost your Business Revenue

There are several factors that contribute to a business’s success, such as a good location, quality products and services, and a well-planned marketing strategy. But one important component that every company should have is a reliable customer relationship management (CRM) system. As a business owner, you know that a solid base of loyal customers is the source of your revenue, and the relationship you build with that base will determine how far your business can go.

Imagine buying a product, and it breaks the first time you use it. You contact customer support and describe the issue, only to be told to wait for another representative to call you back. You wait for hours, and still nobody calls back. After sending an email to customer support, there’s a chance that somebody will return your call, but it’s from someone unfamiliar with your problem and you awkwardly have to explain yourself for the third or fourth time. An effective customer relationship management system can eliminate this problem and many more. Here’s what you need to know.

What is a CRM system?

CRM is a system that allows businesses to manage, record, and evaluate their customer interactions to provide better services and boost sales. You can use CRM to store customers’ contact details, accounts, leads, and sales opportunities all in one place.

What are the features of a CRM system?
Data management – When customer data is recorded, the CRM system centralizes the data into one file, called a master file. Everyone within the company then has access to this data source, preventing confusion from inaccurate or duplicated data.
Collaboration – Nowadays, clients demand quick and efficient customer service, so all involved departments must work together to quickly resolve client concerns. CRM systems enable collaboration by enabling the sharing of customer information among departments. This way, everyone is on the same page on clients’ circumstances and requirements.
Customer segmentation – A CRM system arranges your customers into groups based on criteria such as age, gender, location, and even their likes and dislikes. This allows you to target marketing messages to your customers more accurately, potentially increasing your sales numbers.
Task tracking – CRM systems have task tracking features that enable your employees to stay on top of important tasks, such as contacting customers via email or phone and following up on leads. CRM systems also send reminders to employees about their assigned tasks so that nothing falls through the cracks.
In-depth reporting – CRM systems provide a thorough analysis of your customer base. Its reports give details including an overview of product sales numbers, marketing strategy performance, most successful products or services to date, and even a prediction of whether your sales target will be met at the end of the month.

If you’re looking to improve customer service and increase sales conversion using a CRM system, contact us today!

6 Ways You Might Be Blowing Your IT Budget…and How to Get it Back on Track

There’s a difference between getting value and getting ripped off.  Do you know which one’s happening in your business? Many executives don’t.

We’ve worked with many small businesses, and have found the majority of them are overspending in at least one of these six areas. If you’re not sure you’re getting what you’re paying for, hopefully, our advice here will help you find out!

No one wants to pay for more IT than you need to, but unfortunately, costs have a way of creeping up if you’re not effectively managing all aspects of IT.

Here’s how it can happen.

Let’s say you need more server space. You buy a new server.

That one gets maxed out so you add more space.

Then it happens again.

Pretty soon, you’re trying to manage a crazy big network, and it’s so complicated and burdensome that it’s causing problems in all areas of your infrastructure.

Complexity is the result of this server space gone wild scenario, and so is added cost. Read on to learn about five ways that you could be overspending on IT and how to put a stop to these budget-busting habits:

Data Management and Storage

Whether you’re using cloud storage, onsite servers or both, data can multiply. Before you know it, you’ve got a bottomless pit of expense, as in our example above. Not only are there costs for the data storage itself, but it’s also time-consuming to manage data. Think of your phone, for example. When’s the last time that you deleted all of the duplicate photos? You probably haven’t because you don’t want to take the time. All of the data that you’re accumulating could also be increasing your costs for backup, as well.

Telephones

When was the last time you updated your company’s phones? Lots of businesses are turning to VoIP and other modern telephone services (Like Microsoft Teams) which is fantastic. But too many are still relying on the same hardware and service they bought years ago and paying far more than they should.

Prices and service levels in this area have changed drastically even in the last few years. Technology has given us plenty of high-quality, inexpensive options that offer helpful business features. Modern telephony services can allow you to forward calls from your business line to your cell phone for when you’re outside your office, set up advanced call routing and ring groups, receive voicemails in your inbox, use a virtual receptionist or auto-attendant, play hold music and informative messages, and much more that can be beneficial to your company. New features and technology are developed often, so be sure you’re talking to your provider regularly.

Internet Service

Internet service is another payment that often gets auto-renewed without review. It’s very possible that there’s another provider who could give you a better deal, or that you could renegotiate your plan with your current provider.

Costs creep up with your internet service when you get into a pattern of adding bandwidth whenever you think your connection is lagging. What might be happening is that bandwidth is getting used by everything from employee cell phones to connected equipment, and what you really need is a better way to manage your network and all of its connections.

If you do reach out to your provider and they aren’t willing to help you find areas in which you can save money or receive better service, it’s probably time to look at other vendors. If you have multiple options in your area, get offers from other companies and bring them to your current ISP. Sometimes they will match or beat them, but either way, you’ll be able to make a better decision on who to spend your money with.

Website and Search Engine Optimization Services

This is a tough category to determine whether or not you are overspending, and can be pretty variable depending on your goals and values. Some people might prioritize a cutting edge, modern website that makes their company look sophisticated over the number of leads they get from it. Whatever works for you and your business is fine. But you can still be taken advantage of by shady or ignorant providers regardless of your budget. The first step in figuring out what you should expect to pay in this area is laying out your preferences. After that, research average prices and packages.

 Software Licensing

Costs creep up with software licensing when no one is aware of automatic renewals, and there’s insufficient oversight on which users have which software. Another common situation is for companies to inadvertently pay for duplicate accounts, or buying licenses for users who are no longer with your company — which brings us to the next point…

User Management

If you’re not keeping track of who needs what software license, and adding and subtracting users as they come and go, you could be overspending. This goes for other assets that are assigned to your employees such as mobile devices, and email. It’s common practice for many companies to keep a mailbox open after an employee leaves to make sure that important communications aren’t missed. What often happens is that the email gets forgotten, and pretty soon, six months have gone by and you’re still paying $25 a month for the mailbox when you could have been using an alternative method that wouldn’t have extended your costs.

If your business runs on technology — and these days, it probably does — and technology is your biggest sore spot, then it’s easy for your focus to shift to getting your technology to work. When this happens, you could be experiencing untold opportunity costs because your competitiveness is compromised.

Ok, now that we’ve looked at the mistakes you might be making with your IT budget, isn’t it time to take a look at a few ways to make that budgeting process a success?

Unfortunately, putting together an IT budget that’s a recipe for success is much more difficult than it sounds. Every year you run the risk of encountering crippling technology issues if you don’t take the proper precautions. If your budget isn’t prepared for problems with your IT infrastructure, it could have disastrous results. Here are five ways you can avoid skipping a beat when planning for your business’s IT budget.

Consider Your Long-Term Goals
While it’s definitely important to consider the short-term goals of your IT budget, it would be foolish if you didn’t start planning for long-term investments. It’s no mistake that organizations are continuously turning to services like cloud computing and Software as a Service-type investments. Businesses are turning their standard capital expenses into operational expenses because it’s cheaper and easier to manage than the heavy investment of up-front costs. It’s easier to scale and change in the event that something doesn’t go according to plan further down the road.

Invest in Your Staff’s Training
It’s one thing to have the latest IT solutions ready to use for your business, but another entirely for your staff to understand how to use them. Some businesses don’t invest in the training of their employees longer than they have to, and this is proving to be a big concern. If employees don’t know how to use your technology solutions, they will waste time that could be better spent elsewhere; or worse, they could be making mistakes that you need to fix somewhere down the line.

Consider Your Storage Options
Again, it’s important to consider the long-term ramifications of your business’s data storage techniques. Is there one centralized location for all of your data? If so, what would happen if you were to lose access to it? How do your employees access this information? Do they need continuous access to your business’s data, or only in-house? These are the questions you want to answer. Having a fool-proof backup and disaster recovery solution can help protect your data from being lost due to a freak disaster or hardware failure while cloud storage increases your employees’ access to the data and allows them to work remotely from any approved device.

Always Anticipate Hardware/Software Upgrades
Hardware failure can completely derail your IT budget if you don’t plan to accommodate it. Hardware and software complications are difficult to deal with if you don’t explicitly plan to resolve them as quickly as possible. Your budget should always have assets allocated toward mitigating and replacing technology that’s critical to the success of your business. Otherwise, you could be dealing with huge expenses that will, without a doubt, break your budget, and force you to come up with funds from elsewhere.

Use Outsourcing and Consulting Services When Possible
Outsourcing certain responsibilities of your IT management (or even all of it) can have a positive effect on your budget, time that could be spent managing and maintaining your technology would instead be devoted to managing your business and ensuring its efficient operation. You can enjoy the benefits of being a business owner without worrying about constantly managing your technology.

For more ways to improve the functionality and return on investment of your business’s technology, give Net Activity a call at 216-503-5150.

BYOD and CYOD: What’s the difference?

Many of us are comfortable using computers and devices we’re familiar with. This is the reason companies are now offering their employees a bring your own device (BYOD) option. However, there’s a new concept that is also starting to catch on: choose your own device (CYOD).

We’ve outlined the differences here:

BYOD

This policy allows employees to bring their own devices to the office and use them for work-related tasks. While it focuses mostly on mobile devices, some companies allow users to bring their computers as well.

Companies cut costs on purchasing and maintaining computers when they adopt this policy. This also leads to higher productivity since employees are familiar with their own devices, eliminating the time and effort needed to adjust to a new operating system or technology.

The main drawback of this policy is the risk involved when you allow employees’ devices to access corporate resources. Companies adopting this policy need to ensure that they have a solid system in place that deals not only with security but how the devices should be used.

CYOD

CYOD allows users to choose from a set of devices approved by the company.

These devices come with pre-installed business applications and protocols before an employee selects them. The main benefit of this policy is that the devices offered are highly compatible with the company’s current setup and come with security features to ensure that sensitive information is properly protected.

Depending on the policy, a company can either keep the device after an employee leaves or an employee can own the device after paying for it upfront. Some employees may not like the selection of available devices; that’s the major drawback of this policy. Unfortunately, hardware costs are also not completely eliminated, and employees will have to shoulder the costs for maintenance and repairs.

Which policy should companies adopt?

Companies should think about what works best for their current setup before choosing whether to adopt a BYOD or CYOD policy. A BYOD policy is ideal for companies operating on a tight or limited budget, while CYOD is perfect for companies who want to ensure their data is fully secure.

Contact us today to see how we can help you choose the right policy for your company.

4 Mistakes to Stop Making on Facebook

Facebook has grown rapidly in the past decade and now boasts over two billion monthly active users. These users are constantly liking, sharing, commenting, and posting on the platform. Many businesses see this as an opportunity to grow their customer base so they integrate Facebook advertising into their marketing strategies. To guide you, here’s a list of the most common Facebook marketing mistakes you should avoid.

Mistake #1: Treating Facebook like a one-way communication tool

The content you post on Facebook should encourage followers to express their thoughts. After all, Facebook is a social media network, which means people use it to connect with friends and communicate with family members. They don’t want to be showered with advertising messages! Instead of talking at customers, talk with them and create dialogues that promote engagement and feedback. Try asking probing questions, sharing fun quizzes, or posting images and videos that get your followers talking. Remember that engaging content has a better chance of going viral and attracting more followers to your profile.

Mistake #2: Ignoring follower metrics

When it comes to Facebook marketing, the content that works for one page may not work for another page. To figure out what type of posts are resonating with your business’s audience, look at the metrics in your Facebook Insights located in your admin panel. You’ll be able to see the types of posts that rank high on the list (e.g., text, links, images, or videos) and analyze the statistics from there.

Mistake #3: Targeting ads poorly

While Facebook has more than two billion active users, most of these people don’t want to see your ads! So make sure you use Facebook’s powerful set of audience targeting tools, which allow you to choose potential ad viewers based on their location, age, education, interest, and more. You can even create multiple advertisements to display at different times to various audience groups so you can test and see which ones work best.

Mistake #4: Abandoning your audience

When it comes to Facebook marketing, consistency matters. People won’t be very impressed if they visit your page and see that your last post was a few months ago. On the other hand, when you post regularly, your followers will get into the habit of expecting posts from you — they might even look forward to them if the content is really good! If you find it hard to stick to a schedule, try using tools that can automate your posting for you like Hootsuite.

If you’re not using Facebook to expand your online business presence, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Want more tips on how to expand your business through Facebook? Get in touch today and our experts will be happy to help.

7 Ways to Collect Relevant (and Useful!) Customer Data

Businesses have more access to customer data than ever before, and that trend will likely continue in the future. The insights you get from all that data are valuable. However, a lot of data is unnecessary or possibly even problematic. To ensure your insights are relevant and useful, you must have a well-defined data collection system in place.

Before we jump into our tips for data collection, we have to address the elephant in the room: customer privacy. Despite all the recent regulatory frameworks for protecting people’s private information, there are still a number of opportunities for you to collect data without running afoul of the law. However, honesty is the best business policy. Never ask for a customer’s personal information unless you are absolutely sure that they are aware of the exchange.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look:

Collect the right information

Whether you’re creating an online survey or a signup form, collecting identifying information (i.e. names, date of birth, age, gender, address, etc.) is crucial. This information will form the foundation for future analysis and segmentation.

Track customer interactions

Next is to define important customer interactions. For example, if you own an online store, you need to know how your customers arrived at your site, the items they clicked on, items they added to their cart, and what they eventually purchased. Tracking each step of their journey — from learning about your business to becoming a customer — will give you insights into what your customers need and want.

Gather behavior-related data

Don’t focus solely on customers who made a purchase. Think about what other indicators produce meaningful data. In our online store example, you might want to track how many receive your email newsletter, how many pages they visited on your site, or how much time they spent on each page. Analyzing this information will help you determine which aspects of your efforts are most effective.

Automate data collection

When gathering customer data, you must minimize the risk of human error. The most effective strategy is to automate as much of the collection process as possible. Apps and tools such as online forms and optical character recognition systems feed information directly into your database and eliminate paper-centric processes that often lead to mistakes.

Integrate your systems

Redundancies and errors are also common when there are multiple databases managing the same information. You can prevent these issues by working with an IT provider to integrate all your apps, databases, and software solutions. This way, data collected in one database will be synced and consistent across other platforms, reducing manual data entry.

Consider who will view the reports

Inevitably, you’ll need to turn data into business intelligence reports. It’s a good idea to identify who will read your reports and highlight the most relevant insights. For instance, sales managers want to see quarterly sales figures, and human resources teams want to see labor costs compared to revenue. Using the right tools to generate these reports will save your team several hours of work.

Update data in real-time

It’s difficult to imagine any company in operation today that doesn’t need up-to-the-minute data accuracy. Business intelligence dashboards collect, organize, and filter data at the click of a button. This way, you’ll never have to wait a day or more to receive information that’s critical for a company decision.

Looking for technologies that can help you optimize data collection? We might have a few ideas for you; feel free to reach out. We’ll recommend best-of-breed technologies that track the information you need to grow your business.

The Ultimate Password Security Checklist

Let’s face it…we use passwords all the time; whether we are logging into Facebook or LinkedIn, our company intranet portal, or even our personal bank account. Making sure these passwords are unique-and most importantly-secure is imperative. That’s why we’ve put together this checklist of the 9 steps you absolutely must take for optimum password security….we want to keep you safe.

Here they are:

1. Never share your password with anyone. Seriously. The very first thing you’re going to want to do, if it wasn’t part of your OS setup, is change the root password. This should be self-evident, but can be surprisingly overlooked during a routine server setup. The password should be at least 8 characters, using a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. You should also set up a password policy that specifies aging, locking, history and complexity requirements if you are going to use local accounts. In most cases you should disable the root user entirely and create non-privileged user accounts with sudo access for those who require elevated rights.

Your password is what makes you accountable for the actions taken under your account. Socially engineering a password out of someone is often much easier than “hacking” their account. Most phishing schemes trick you into giving up your password in some way or another. Why go to the trouble of blowing the safe if you can have the bank manager open it up for you?

2. Create a Strong Password. Not just any password will do, and the reason why relates to how passwords are cracked. If a person were trying to guess your password, they might try ten or so passwords a minute, if they’re fast. A computer can guess much, much faster. So how many permutations does it take to get your password? Here are three key factors:

• Length. Each character increases the complexity exponentially. This is why passwords typically have a minimum requirement of 8 characters.
• Character sets. Each character set has a certain number of permutations. There are 26 lowercase letters, but only 10 digits (0-9), so you can see how “potato” is more secure than “536871” from the perspective of a machine running through different combinations of characters.
• Common words. Brute force isn’t the only method to crack a password. A computer can run a “dictionary attack” against a password very quickly, testing for all real words, of which there are relatively few, compared to the huge number of character permutations possible. All of the sudden “potato” isn’t that great of a password after all.

Your password should be a combination of at least both upper and lowercase letters and a number (62 unique, reusable characters, with 8 characters in the password means 62 to the 8th power, or 2.1834011e+14 possible combinations). Include a special character to increase complexity, but make sure that character is supported by the mechanism you’re using, as some are not. Finally, you can find any number of password generators online, which can generate extremely complex passwords. But you have to remember this. And when you get down to step 5, having separate passwords for every account can be too much to ask with 18 character randomly generated passwords.

3. Set a Reminder to Change Your Password. Some services require regular password changes, while some do not. If they don’t, it’s always a good plan to change your password regularly anyway. This step is about reducing the window of damage. A simple reminder every six months or even a year would have prevented this old data breach from compromising anything. The more often you change your password, the smaller the window of a compromised password being worthwhile. This is why high security systems use randomly generated numbers that change every few minutes as part of their authentication model. Changing your password on a regular basis may seem annoying, but it’s nothing compared to dealing with a compromised account, identity theft, or credit card fraud.
4. Don’t reuse passwords. Alternating between passwords doesn’t have the same effect as changing them to something new each time. Once a password is compromised, it can be exploited at any point in time, even years later. Reusing a password re-opens the vulnerability window for that password.
5. Different sites? different passwords. Limiting the scope of your password prevents a compromised password from exploiting multiple areas. Even adding a section somewhere in your password like “fb” for Facebook (eg: BuFFDuD3fb) will prevent most cross-site compromises, because once the attacker realizes the same password won’t crack the site, they would then have to manually start guessing at differences, without knowing if it’s an entirely different password altogether.  As email/password combos are tried at other sites, users who relied on a single, static password will be compromised. This ripple effect to other systems follows major breaches every time.
6. Secure your reset options. This step protects you against people, rather than computers, trying to hack your account. Be thoughtful with how your password can be reset. Security questions and answers should not be information that is publicly available, easily searchable or widely known to people who know you. Many people’s accounts are hacked by people they know in real life. If you have an email account where a password reset request will be sent, make sure you have sole access to that account and that it too has a strong password.
7. Password managers. You can use a password manager to store your passwords for you. The major browsers all have password storage systems, while cloud options like LastPass work from any computer with internet access. There are pros and cons to this method:

The encrypted master password was not compromised, but much other important information was. The important thing to remember is that password managers are not magic– you’re simply outsourcing the protection of your passwords to someone else.

8. Use Two-Factor Authentication Whenever Possible. Probably one of the most important mechanisms available, 2FA, as its name implies, prevents the compromise of a single authentication factor (the password) from compromising the account. The mechanism typically works by requesting the traditional login information, then sending a confirmation to a device, usually a smartphone, such as a text, phone call, or in-app security verification screen. Ideally, only the authorized person would have the smartphone and could then accept or reject the authentication requests as necessary. More advanced mechanisms can require bio-authentication, such as a fingerprint swipe, which prevents lost or stolen phones from being used to falsely issue confirmations. Most cloud apps offer 2FA now, with many traditional applications following suit. It’s worth taking a few extra seconds every time you login to know that even if your password is hacked, nobody can access your accounts.

9. Don’t leave any open windows. There’s a classic cartoon gag where one of the characters struggles for a long time to pick a lock on a door while the other character just goes in through an open window. Don’t let this be the case with your data. Consider whether there are other accounts with access to the same information you’re protecting. Are they as secure as yours? What about integrations? Did you try out that hilarious face swapping app that requested access to your Twitter and Facebook and photos? Does it still have access to your account? Most cloud services will let you track what third party integrations have access and remove whatever is unnecessary. If you’re using a public computer, be sure to close the entire browser process when you’re done. Failure to do so could leave your session cookies available for the next person, who wouldn’t even need to log in to access your information.