You likely have usernames and passwords all over the ‘net. For your email, Facebook, your online bank – everywhere!

There have been numerous security breaches online as of late. One of the more recent ones was as an online service I use daily, called Evernote. In this news story, hackers compromised Evernote servers a few weeks back. To deal with the issue, Evernote forced everyone who uses the service to reset their passwords.

This breach and all the other events underly a huge problem online, traditional usernames and passwords are insecure. Mainly, because as humans, we online citizens use the same passwords across services.

Thankfully, we do have a fantastic solution, called two-factor authentication. This solution uses two ways to make sure you are, well, you.  In most cases, this includes a traditional password and an added step – a six digit code that is delivered to you via text messaging.

Evernote plans on deploying two factor authentication later this year. If you’re a Gmail or Facebook user, they already offer two-factor authentication, which makes your account much more secure.

What we need now is for *every* service online to implement two factor authentication.  We as users should demand it – as it makes all of our data far more secure than the present situation we’re in. Without added security, our data is at risk.

If you need help in setting up two-factor authentication for your Google account, see this article.

Are you worried about your data?  Do you use a secure password?

Image credit: ToniVC