Friday, October 12, 2012

Using Google 2-Step Verification

When someone else has your password, it's bad news. Even if you use different passwords for different sites, just having a compromised password for one of those sites is bad enough, especially if it's a site where you have stored valuable or sensitive information.

Several weeks ago, I read this account of Mat Honan's plight. Teenagers hackers were able to access Honan's iCloud, Gmail, and Twitter account. They destroyed data and sent offensive Twitter messages on his behalf.

Google has provided a 2-step verification method for it's users. Two-step verification is optional. This video explains the process:




Anyone using 2-step verification now? Have you found it easy? Anyone have a horror story about a compromised password?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I use Two-Factor Authentication across a lot of my accounts. I feel a lot more secure when I can telesign into my account. If you have that option available to you use it, it is worth the time and effort to have the confidence that your account won't get hacked and your sites are not up for grabs. If you opt into 2FA, you will have to "Confirm your phone". You would receive a text message with a specific code to be entered into the system. If you don't want to do this every single time, you can designate your smartphone, PC, or tablet as a trusted device and they will allow you to telesign in without the text code. Should an attempt to login from an unrecognized device happen, it would not be allowed.