A Turkish Hacking group has stated that it has got access to over 250 million iCloud accounts, and if Apple doesn’t pay $700,000 before April 7, the hackers would lock people out of their accounts by resetting the password.
According to Apple, the group doesn’t pose a threat. The company said in a statement, “There have not been any breaches in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud and Apple ID. The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained from previously compromised third-party services. We’re actively monitoring to prevent unauthorised access to user accounts and are working with law enforcement to identify the criminals involved.”
Although it is highly likely that the hacking group could be lying, there is no harm in keeping our guards up, if in case things do go south. Here’s how you can protect your iCloud account from hack attacks.
In order to make your iCloud account hack-proof, you’ll need to look into two key elements- a strong password, and two-factor authentication. Let’s start by setting up the perfect password.
Iron-clad password
While creating a strong password, you need to keep three important rules in check.
1. Make sure it is approximately 12-16-character long
It is always essential to have a long password, as it’ll take a long time for hackers to decipher the password to gain access to your account. A short and sweet password can get deciphered easily. Also, make sure it isn’t something very predictable. Keep it unique and hard to trace. Don’t use your name or name of any family member, or any popular phenomenon, keep it rare and hard to link to.
2. Make sure it uses a combination of alphanumeric and special characters
This is one of the most crucial rules while creating passwords. If you’re keeping it only alphabets or numbers, it gets easy for hacking tools to crack the code, as deciphering only alphabetical or numerical passcodes isn’t very difficult.
However, if you club alphanumeric characters together, finding the exact combination becomes really difficult. Moreover, of you’ve added a few special characters like a comma, or a full stop or even an asterisk in the mix, it’ll make the password stronger, as there are numerous special characters so make the combinations with, making it practically impossible to crack the code.
3. Don’t replicate passwords from other accounts
Never, keep the same password for two different accounts, as if in any case, one of the accounts gets compromised, the chances of all the accounts possessing the same password getting hacked increases.
Two-factor Authentication
This is one of the biggest safeguards iCloud possesses against hack threats, and one must always enable two-factor authentication to have that extra level of security.
What two-factor authentication really does, is that it when you log into your iCloud account from your computer, it’ll ask you for a unique OTP code, which will be only shared on the smartphone that the iCloud account is linked to.
Only once you’ve entered the OTP, you’ll gain access to your iCloud account, and not otherwise. So even if someone manages to get your password, the two-factor authentication will notify you if someone is trying to log in, and if it isn’t you, you can simply hit ‘No’ and the access is revoked. Cool, right?
Now if you wish to enable two-factor authentication for your iCloud, simply head to your iPhone’s settings, then head to iCloud, and then tap on your account, and the ‘Password and Security’ and turn on ‘Two-Factor Authentication.’ After a quick setup, you’re good to go!
These few steps will come a long way in making your iPhone user experience safer, and hack-free!
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