How to Stay Safe Online in 2026: The Top 5 Ways to Protect Your Data Security and Privacy

Why 2026 is a turning point for staying safe online

Here's the good news first. The defenses for staying safe online got better too, and the five that matter most for data security and privacy are free or close to it.

Two things changed at once. Attackers picked up AI tools that make a fake email, voice or video convincing enough to fool careful people. At the same time, the biggest platforms started steering us away from the weakest locks on our accounts.

If you administer sign-in for an organization on Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft's documentation on enabling passkeys (FIDO2) in Entra ID is your starting point. Check Microsoft's Entra release notes and message center for the current schedule on default sign-in methods and on text message and voice authentication, rather than trusting any date you've seen quoted. Most readers don't manage Entra, so your takeaway is simpler. When a platform that large steers people away from the weakest lock, copy the move on your own accounts, starting with a passkey on your primary email.

1. Replace your passwords with passkeys wherever you can

A passkey is a sign-in credential stored on your phone, computer or security key. You unlock it with your face, your fingerprint or your device PIN. There's nothing to type, so there's nothing for a fake login page to steal, and a passkey only works on the real site it was created for. Even if you land on a convincing fake, your device has nothing to offer it.

Start with the accounts that would hurt the most if someone else got in: your primary email, your bank and brokerage accounts, your tax or payroll software, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Email comes first, because email is the reset button for everything else you own online.

Here's how to create one on the big three. Menu names shift from time to time, so if you don't see the exact label, search your account settings for "passkey."

1. Google: sign in at myaccount.google.com, open Security, choose Passkeys and security keys under "How you sign in to Google," then select Create a passkey and approve it with your fingerprint, face or device PIN.
2. Microsoft: sign in at account.microsoft.com, open Security, then Advanced security options, choose Add a new way to sign in or verify, and pick the passkey option. On a work or school account, go to Security info at mysignins.microsoft.com, add a sign-in method and choose passkey, unless your administrator manages it for you.
3. Apple: make sure Passwords is switched on under your name, then iCloud, in Settings (older versions call it Passwords and Keychain). The next time a site offers to create a passkey, accept and approve it with Face ID or Touch ID. It then syncs to your other Apple devices.

For sites that don't support passkeys yet, use a password manager so every password is long, random and used exactly once. Reused passwords are how a breach at a shopping site you forgot you joined turns into somebody logging into your bank.

2. Get off text-message codes

SMS codes beat nothing, but not by as much as most people assume. Attackers talk mobile carriers into moving your number onto their SIM card, and they run phishing kits that relay your six-digit code to the real site while you're still typing it. Text messages were never designed to carry secrets.

The stronger standard has a name: phishing-resistant authentication. It means a sign-in that is tied to the real site's address, so it simply fails on a fake page. Two kinds qualify. One is the passkey you just set up. The other is a FIDO2 security key, a small USB or NFC device, such as a YubiKey, that you plug in or tap to approve a sign-in. Texts and app codes don't qualify, because you can still be tricked into handing the code over.

If a passkey or key isn't offered, an authenticator app is the next best thing. Microsoft Authenticator and Google Authenticator are free phone apps that generate a fresh six-digit code every 30 seconds, and they don't depend on your phone number.

Then work through each important account, starting with your bank and email:

1. Open the account's security settings and find two-step verification, which some sites call multi-factor or 2-step verification.
2. Add a passkey or security key first. If neither is available, choose an authenticator app and scan the QR code the site shows you.
3. Save the backup codes the site gives you somewhere safe and offline.
4. Remove your phone number as a sign-in or recovery option anywhere the site offers something stronger.

While you're at it, call your mobile carrier and ask for a port-out PIN or number lock.

One more habit. If your phone fills up with sign-in approval prompts you didn't trigger, deny every one of them and change that account's password. That's not a glitch. Somebody has your password and is hoping you'll tap yes to make the noise stop.

3. Treat every urgent request as unverified until you check it another way

This is the one AI changed the most. A cloned voice can be built from a short audio sample, and a convincing email no longer has the spelling mistakes we were all trained to look for. The IC3's annual reports track business email compromise, where a criminal poses as an executive or vendor to redirect a payment, and AI makes that scam harder to spot.

The defense is old-fashioned and it works: verify through a channel you already trust. Hang up and call back the number you have on file, never the one in the message. Look up the vendor's contact information yourself instead of replying to the email that asked for a change.

At home, agree on a family code word that anyone calling in a panic has to know. At work, write a simple callback rule and hold the line on it: no change to bank details, no wire and no W-2 request goes through without a call to a known number. No exceptions for urgency, because urgency is the attack.

As a CPA, I'd put this rule in place before any other control in an office, because it costs nothing and it still works against a voice you'd swear you recognized.

4. Freeze your credit and claim your IRS Identity Protection PIN

Be honest with yourself about this one. Your name, birthdate and Social Security number are almost certainly sitting in at least one breached database already. If you've ever received a breach notification letter, you have your proof. You can't pull that data back, but you can make it far less useful to the person who has it.

A credit freeze at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion stops anyone from opening new credit in your name. It's free, it doesn't touch your credit score, and you can lift it temporarily in a few minutes when you need a loan or a new card. Each bureau's own freeze page, linked above, confirms those terms. You need to freeze all three, because lenders don't all check the same bureau. The process is the same at each one:

1. Go to the bureau's website and create a free online account. You'll confirm your identity with your name, address, birthdate and Social Security number.
2. Find the security freeze option, which sits under credit freeze or fraud and security tools, and place the freeze.
3. Save the confirmation and any PIN the bureau gives you, and store your login in your password manager.
4. Repeat at the other two bureaus.
5. When you need to apply for credit, sign in to the bureau that lender uses and choose to lift the freeze temporarily for a set number of days. Then it re-freezes on its own.

Then request an IRS Identity Protection PIN. It's a six-digit number that has to be on any federal return filed under your Social Security number, which shuts the door on someone filing a fake return and taking your refund. The IRS page explains the program and its requirements. Here's how to get yours:

1. Go to irs.gov/ippin and select Get an IP PIN.
2. Sign in to your IRS online account. If you don't have one, create it and verify your identity when prompted, which means a photo ID and a selfie or a video call.
3. Follow the prompts and your PIN appears on screen.
4. Enter it on your federal return. You'll need to retrieve a new one each year.

Get it before filing season starts, not after something goes wrong. If you advise clients, this is one of the most useful things you can recommend to them, and the identity theft controls guide goes further.

5. Update automatically and back up where ransomware can't reach

Most attacks don't use brilliant new techniques. They use known flaws in software that somebody didn't update. Turn on automatic updates for your computer's operating system, your browser, your phone and your apps. Check your home router too. If the manufacturer has stopped releasing firmware updates for it, replace it.

Backups are the other half. Follow the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of anything you care about, on two different types of storage, with one copy kept offline or off-site where ransomware on your laptop can't reach it. A cloud sync folder isn't a backup on its own, because it will cheerfully sync the encrypted files right along with everything else.

Then test a restore. Pick a file, delete your local copy and get it back. A backup you've never restored isn't a backup. It's a hope.

Pulling it together

The attackers' tools got noticeably better this year. Fake voices, flawless phishing emails and stolen codes relayed in real time are all routine now. But look at the five defenses again: passkeys, phishing-resistant sign-in, out-of-band verification, a credit freeze with an IP PIN, and updates with real backups. Not one of them depends on spotting a fake. They work even on the day you're tired, rushed and fooled, which is the day that matters. That's how you stay safe online in 2026.

Go deeper, and earn CPE while you do it

If you protect client data for a living, these five habits are the floor of data security and privacy 2026, not the ceiling. These courses take you further:

• 2026's Biggest Security and Privacy Concerns: real breaches from 2025 and early 2026, what went wrong, and how to build your incident response and compliance plan.
• Cybersecurity Defense for CPAs: AI CPE for CPAs that covers AI-written phishing, cloned voices and deepfake requests, and the defenses that stop them.
• Critical Tips for Avoiding Identity Theft & Data Breaches: a focused session on protecting your identity and your clients' data.