Macs Only: The Heartbleed Hacking Crisis

Major websites that we all use are being hacked left and right — because this is a web issue and not a computer issue its possible that Mac users can be affected, just like Windows users.

Rather than doing a bunch of research for you — I want to give you information from a trusted source Mac World — and let you decide what you want to do — what passwords you want to change.
http://www.macworld.com/article/2142040/what-the-heartbleed-bug-really-means-to-mac-and-ios-users.html#jump

As a general rule of thumb – I recommend changing passwords for key websites that you use at least every 6 months.
I recommend using a secure password manager like
1Password or Last Pass — which will manage all your logins but also create randomized passwowrds. I must have over 200 websites saved (user name and password). Honestly, for most of them, I do not know the password and I love it. Randomized passwords are much saver than unsafe passwords you usually come up with on your own.

Also ….
if you use….. Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Outlook.com mail — you’ll want to have two factor (also called two step) authentication turned on.

This means about every 30 days — you will be texted a code to your cell phone to verify your account. This code is then typed into your computer. Furthermore, if some hacker tried to get into your account, you would get a code by text. They don’t have your phone — so they wont get in. Your phone is the second factor. It’s the second key to unlock the safe.

I may ruffle some feathers here — but if you use Apple’s iCloud email– they don’t have true 2-factor authentication. They implemented a half- *ssed (missing letter is “a” by the way — i don’t know any other way to say it) two factor authentication in 2013. It is NOT the same as google, yahoo and microsoft offer. It does not protect iCloud email.

I’m going to give you the websites for the two password managers I recommend – you only need one. Read about them. If you want to implement one of these solutions, we can make an appointment.
http://www.1password.com
http://www.lastpass.com