Audit your accounts
Think of your accounts as the doors of a house. Some doors lead to a closet. Some lead to the room with all your treasure. You can't guard doors you've forgotten you have. So first, walk around and count them, then put the best lock on the treasure doors.
- Course 13.15 said: use a different passphrase for every account, store them in a password manager, and turn on MFA. An audit is how you check that you really did it everywhere.
- Your email account is the master key. Many other accounts send "reset your password" links to it, so whoever controls your email can often reach many other accounts. (This is a common-sense reason to protect email first, not a statistic.)
- Rank accounts by what a thief could do with them:
| Risk level | Examples | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| High | Email, banking, school or work accounts, main social media, app store account, password manager | Unique passphrase plus MFA, no exceptions |
| Medium | Shopping, games, streaming, cloud storage with photos | Unique passphrase plus MFA if offered |
| Low | Old forums, one-time sign-ups | Unique passphrase, or close the account |
- Get Cyber Safe says to turn on multi-factor authentication whenever a website, app or device offers it.
- Close accounts you no longer use. An old account you forgot about is a door nobody is watching. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) also advises unlinking apps from your accounts when you stop using them and deleting unused apps.
- Open your password manager, or your browser's saved passwords, and list every account you can find. Add any you remember that are not saved.
- Write each one in a simple table: account name, risk level (high, medium, low), unique passphrase (yes or no), MFA (yes or no).
- Start with your email. Make sure it has a unique passphrase and MFA on.
- Fix every "high" account that has a "no" in either column.
- For each "low" account you no longer use, find the account settings and close or delete it.
- Do not write your passphrases in the table.
- Check: every high-risk account has "yes" in both columns, and you have closed at least one old account.
Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.
Read the video script
[Host] "How many accounts do you have? Most people guess too low."
[Screen: a table of accounts with risk levels] "List them. Rank them. High, medium, low."
[Text on screen: Email = the master key] "Email first. Reset links go there, so protect it most."
[Screen: a Delete account button] "Old accounts you don't use? Close them. Fewer doors, fewer problems."
Build your account table today. Fix the weakest high-risk account and close one account you no longer use.
ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude
Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.
For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.
I'm learning "Online Safety Skills: privacy and accounts" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Audit your accounts". What the lesson teaches: - Course 13.15 said: use a different passphrase for every account, store them in a password manager, and turn on MFA. An audit is how you check that you really did it everywhere. - Your email account is the master key. Many other accounts send "reset your password" links to it, so whoever controls your email can often reach many other accounts. (This is a common-sense reason to protect email first, not a statistic.) - Rank accounts by what a thief could do with them: - Risk level - Examples - What it needs - High - Email, banking, school or work accounts, main social media, app store account, password manager - Unique passphrase plus MFA, no exceptions - Medium - Shopping, games, streaming, cloud storage with photos - Unique passphrase plus MFA if offered - Low - Old forums, one-time sign-ups - Unique passphrase, or close the account The exercise I'm working on: Build your account table today. Fix the weakest high-risk account and close one account you no longer use. I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Audit your accounts" from the course "Online Safety Skills: privacy and accounts". Here's what the lesson says: Think of your accounts as the doors of a house. Some doors lead to a closet. Some lead to the room with all your treasure. You can't guard doors you've forgotten you have. So first, walk around and count them, then put the best lock on the treasure doors. The activity: Build your account table today. Fix the weakest high-risk account and close one account you no longer use. Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Sources
- Get Cyber Safe, Multi-factor authentication: www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en/secure-your-accounts/multi-factor-authentica
- Get Cyber Safe, Passphrases, passwords and PINs: www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en/secure-your-accounts/passphrases-passwords-a
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Tips for using privacy settings: www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/technology/online-privacy-tracking-co
Better multi-factor authentication and a way back in
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Privacy settings audit
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Devices, app permissions and public Wi-Fi
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Your data, ads and other people's privacy
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When something goes wrong: breaches and identity fraud
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Sextortion and intimate images: how to stay safe and where to get help
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Final project
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Quiz
Why protect your email account first?
Many accounts send reset links to it, so whoever controls it can often reach other accounts.
What are the three kinds of factors Get Cyber Safe describes?
What you know, what you have, what you are.
Why are two passwords not MFA?
Both are the same kind of factor, "what you know."
What are recovery options for?
Getting back into an account if you lose your phone or login.
Name two social media settings to change before you post.
Audience, tag review, location, search visibility.
Does private (incognito) mode hide your activity from your internet provider?
No.
What does Get Cyber Safe advise about public Wi-Fi?
Avoid it, or use a VPN if you must connect.
After a data breach, what can you ask the credit bureaus to do?
Place a fraud alert on your credit report (in Canada, Equifax and TransUnion).
Where should you report online fraud?
Your country's fraud-reporting agency and the police (in Canada, the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501).
If someone threatens to share your private picture unless you pay, what should you do?
Stop responding, screenshot, tell a safe adult, do not pay, block, and report to the police or your country's tip line (in Canada, Cybertip.ca).
Where can a young person in distress get help?
A trusted adult and a local youth helpline (in Canada, Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868).
Whose privacy should you think about before posting a photo of friends?
Theirs: ask before you post.
Final exam
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Certificate
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