Protect Yourself with Better Password Management

There's no way around our ever increasing need for more securely storing our online data. It seems that we hear about another data breach just about every day while our list of websites requiring logins continues to grow. Productivity requires more wary processes.

Here are four practical privacy practices to implement now:

• Be password smart. Don't use the same password for everything. Create strong passwords, including uppercase and lowercase letters, spacing, punctuation and symbols whenever possible. Some sources encourage using a sentence as an effective password, but I still encourage incorporating those various elements of uppercase and lowercase letters along with symbols within whatever sentence you utilize. Then, change each password regularly, whether monthly or quarterly.

• Be consistent in where you keep your passwords. You can handwrite them in a book, have them printed out from a spreadsheet, save them in your smartphone's notes or enter them in an online password management app; however, please do not rely on your memory nor leave them written on sticky notes attached to your computer screen. My clients have had great success using Dashlane, Roboform, SplashID, Sticky Password and 1Password, but utilize the option with which you feel most comfortable. If you take the route of using a password management application, feel free to use your email to pull any existing passwords associated with that email and, then, move at whatever pace you prefer uploading others.

• Use two-factor authentication. Since many social media platforms and other tools link your accounts there to your email account, activate two-step verification within whichever email you utilize. When attempting to log into whatever account has two-step verification activated, you'll be texted a code that must be entered to proceed; this gives an extra layer of security to protect your account information and alerts you when someone else tries to login as you.

• Protect your information. Don't over-share on social media, particularly when it comes to announcing when you are traveling, and limit what personal details are posted that can be tracked back to answers you'd give for security questions. Be careful with whom you share passwords, your social security number, your birthdate, credit card numbers and any identifying data. Never send anyone your social security number or credit card information via email.

Do you have preferred options for password management? What steps do you take to protect your privacy and security, particularly for online information? Are there any on this list that you will add to your privacy practices?

What steps are you taking to protect your clients', vendors', employees' and own data?

In the United States & Canada, today is Data Privacy Day; in Europe, it is referred to as Data Protection Day. Yet, regardless of from where you are reading this post, you must understand the importance of addressing data privacy and using data protection best practices. Has your company set a data privacy policy? Are you personally utilizing best practices for protecting your data, keeping it safe, secure and private? How do you address your clients', vendors' and employees' need for data protection? Many tech tools promote individual control over personally identifiable information, but there are many details to be considered, such as these:

• Has your business incorporated technological innovations to protect what information is stored in your system and shared between your team members?

• Have you reviewed the privacy settings on each of your social media platforms, verifying that you are sharing with others only the information you'd like displayed to them?

• Have you set each of your online accounts to require two-factor authentication so any account accessed by a device the platform doesn't recognize will be asked for a verification code?

• Do you use a unique and complex password for each account? How often do you reset each?

• Have you created a habit for logging out immediately upon finishing use of any account?

• Have you strengthened your passwords to include both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, creating a habit to change or update them regularly?

• Has your business enacted transparency on usage so your constituents are very clear about the manner in which you will be utilizing whatever information they share with you? People want to know with whom their data is being shared, what type of data is being collected from them and how the data is being used; are you proactively answering those questions?

• Do you get consent from folks in a photo prior to sharing it?

• As cookies are used to remember and track your online data, habits and preferences, does your business have a policy for their utilization, particularly how often they are to be deleted?

• Do you stop and think before utilizing public WiFi, remembering that it is not a secure connection and avoiding transactions that should be kept private?

• Have you set-up your mobile devices so you can easily shut each down remotely if stolen or lost? Do you have antivirus software installed on each of your mobile devices? Further, when replacing a mobile device, do you know how to dump data off the old one?

Above all else, though, it is imperative to be aware of what data you're posting online. As explained in the cyber privacy parable at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0I7jQb37bo, there are many folks able to access what you post online, way beyond those friends or connections with whom you consciously know you are sharing. Advertisers, news outlets, governments and criminals alike are interested in what you are posting, but you have control over what information you put out there.

Further, as outlined at http://bit.ly/1wBMFL6, there are activities for which people are willing to trade privacy to get ease of use. Be aware of this feedback so you can adapt your processes accordingly, but never take advantage of how your consumers feel, trading privacy for ease of use only when it is absolutely necessary. If you want customers to trust you, it is important for you to respect their personal data. In what instances can you offer both privacy and ease of use?

What is your business' data policy? What steps are you taking to protect your own data? How do you address your clients', vendors' and employees' need for keeping data safe, secure and private?