Quick Tips For School Cyber Security

The sad truth though is; most will simply never have sufficient time to fully digest, let alone implement the more technical elements.  So, if that’s you, the TLDR (Too Long…  Didn’t Read) below contains our two ‘fave tips’ which, in most cases, you can implement, on you own, at little or no cost.

1) 2FA (2-Factor Authentication), sometimes referred to as MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), is something most are now familiar with and simply describes the process of using a second means of proving you are who you say you are when accessing (frequently online) systems.

2FA/MFA is one of the single most effective ways of protecting your user accounts/identities and is, in many cases, free so, if you have yet to enable it, you will do well to do so at the earliest opportunity.

2) Passwords…  They can be a headache to come up with, store securely, and remember.  A password manager will help there but, you then have all your eggs in the one basket, as it were, and so, it’s critical you protect that itself with a strong password, plus 2FA.

But, what is a strong password these days…?

Well, as per the NCSC guidance, the recommended formula is referred to as; “Three Random Words”…  Simply string together 3 (seemingly) random words which, mean something to you but, would likely never be connected by anyone attempting to guess your password.

I sometimes find recalling a specific memory or event can be helpful in conjuring a few words which no-one else is likely to connect…  Don’t forget to include punctuation!

Lastly,  NEVER save passwords in your web browser…  Regardless of advances made in securing your passwords stored there, attackers will always find a way around them.