In the pre-Xmas rush to finish work and get on with the festivities, take a few moments to save yourself New Year heartache:
- Enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication for all your logins where you can (email, social media, cloud storage etc).
- Encrypt any sensitive files such as your tax stuff, investment documents, personal photos, recordings.
- Backup those files and all your other data files: documents, spreadsheets, photos, anything you’ve created or edited (not your installed programs/apps). Back them up to a cloud server where you have a strong password and for which you have two-factor activated.
- Back up all those files again to an external drive and store that off-site, with a trusted neighbour, family member, fire-proof bank vault, or secure storage facility.
- If you have time, before the tinsel and tree beckon, install an offline password manager, such as Keepass, set it up with a strong master password that you can easily remember. Add your important accounts to the password manager database and then reset their passwords one by one, use the manager to generate new strong passwords for each and save the database once you’ve reset them. If you still have time, do the same for all your other less important accounts. Use a different password for every login. Never use your master password for any logins.
- Backup the encrypted password manager database, but perhaps not to cloud storage.
- Update your antivirus software, run a full scan across your computer and mobile devices.
- If everything is clean and backed up, boot down your PC. Unplug. Accept that mulled wine and mince pie
- Wish everyone a “Merry Christmas”
- Do not say “Happy Holidays”
- Do not pull your kecks down and photocopy your backside, do not sext anyone.