A study from Digital Shadows finds there are more than 15 billion credentials in circulation in cybercriminal marketplaces, many on the dark web.

That’s the equivalent of more than two for every person on the planet!

Cybersecurity will only become more important as the world shifts from physical to cyber, from office buildings to remote setups, from paper to digital.

The proof is in the hacking. The number of stolen and exposed credentials has risen 300 percent from 2018 as the result of more than 100,000 separate breaches.

Press for time? Here’s a 60-second summary of the article:

One Effective CyberSecurity Tip to Protect Yourself Online

Now that we know that cybercriminals have an almost unlimited supply of stolen credentials it’s up to us to take action.

The challenge is that “cybersecurity” means a lot of different things for different people. For example:

• For individuals, cybersecurity may mean preventing identity theft.
• For small business owners, cybersecurity may focus on data security.
• For large business cybersecurity is more layered and focus protecting servers and cybersecurity awareness.

While there are no magic wands to address all the cyber threats experts agree that using two- or multi-factor authentication on all services is one of the best ways to protect yourself online.  

Cybersecurity experts consider authenticator apps more secure than texting  it’s more difficult for a hacker to gain physical access to your phone and generate a code without you knowing about it.

Here’s how it works: you scan a QR code associated with your account, and it is saved in the app. The next time you log in to your service or app, it will ask for a numerical code; just open up the authenticator app to find the randomly generated code required to get past security.

That’s your technology update.  Stay safe and remember that cyber security is in your hands!

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