White House encouraging Americans to ‘lock down their logins’
29 September, 2016
category: Biometrics, Corporate, Digital ID, Financial, Government
In the wake of 500 million credentials being stolen from Yahoo, the White House, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and more than 35 companies have launched a campaign to encourage individuals to move beyond user names and passwords.
“Lock Down Your Login,” is designed to empower Americans to better protect their online accounts and move beyond usernames and passwords and adopt strong authentication for online accounts. Almost three-quarters of Americans – 72% — believe their accounts are secure with just usernames and passwords.
The old ways of authentication are no longer good enough. Hackers and cybercriminals continue to evolve their attack techniques, and users must improve their security to better protect their accounts.
The campaign is launching at a time when Americans are more connected than ever: 73% go online daily and one in five are constantly connected. Although Americans consistently express high levels of concern about identity theft, device security and risks such as phishing, many are either not aware or not using widely available, technologies to better secure their online accounts.
Americans expect the cybersecurity community to help solve the problem. In another study, 78% of Americans reported they strongly or somewhat agree that government, industry and other stakeholders should work to find new ways of securing accounts beyond the password.
The Lock Down Your Login campaign is timed with the launch of National Cyber Security Awareness Month next month. NCSA and the campaign partners are asking all Americans to fortify their key online accounts by locking down their logins in October and make the internet safer for them and more secure for everyone.
The site lists some 70 sites and services that can be secured via two factor authentication as well as links of how to enable it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=856QV4Ll-A8#action=share