Two-factor authentication is an unnecessarily complicated-sounding name, but it’s a very simple way to protect your email, social media, and most other online accounts. While two-factor authentication technically means you have two layers of security protecting your account – typically, one is a password, and the second is usually a one-time password (OTP). Therefore, most people who talk about two-factor authentication usually talk about OTP.
For example, with this extra layer of security enabled on your account, you will get an OTP via SMS or an authenticator app every time you log into your Gmail or Twitter account. This means that even if someone knows what your password is, they won’t be able to log into your account because they don’t have access to the one-time password.
It’s always good to have an extra layer of security when it comes to online accounts. Every other day, we hear about people’s accounts being hacked online, and enabling two-factor authentication is one way to create trouble for the bad guys.
Where to use two-factor authentication
Not all sites support two-factor authentication, but we think you should use this security feature on every site that supports it. Sure, it adds an extra step when logging into your online account, but remember, it also protects your account.
If you don’t want to use this feature everywhere, we recommend that you make sure you enable it on all your email accounts. As long as your email is not compromised, most of your online accounts will also be safe. It goes without saying that you may want to avoid email providers such as Yahoo as these providers are not known for providing a good level of security.
How to add two-factor authentication using the Google Authenticator app
There are two main ways to use two-factor authentication – SMS or through an authenticator app. Most websites will send you an OTP via SMS, which is a very good authentication method. However, if you go abroad or travel to a place in your country with unstable or no network, then you may be locked out of your account because the text messages never arrive.
That’s why we recommend using an authenticator app like Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Authy, or even some password managers like 1Password. These apps will show you the OTP even if the smartphone is in airplane mode. Google Authenticator is very easy to use, and the following steps will show you how to use it with Gmail. The steps are similar for other authenticator applications.
- Open Google’s two-factor authentication page.
- Enter your password when prompted. You will arrive at the two-factor authentication login page. Click Get started.
- Enter the phone number you want to use for OTP. This is to prevent the authenticator application from becoming inaccessible. Click Next.
- Enter the one-time password sent to your phone. Click Next.
- Click Open.
- This enables two-factor authentication on your Google account via SMS. Now scroll down and click set up below Authenticator application.
- In the pop-up window, select your phone type – Android or iPhone.
- Now you will see a QR code on the screen. You can scan this content or click Unable to scan Get the code for two-factor authentication. This is where you have to switch to your smartphone.
- Download Google Authenticator on Android or iOS.
- tap Start setting up.
- tap Scan barcode. This will launch the camera on your smartphone, which you can point at the QR code on your computer screen. Alternatively, you can click Manual entry and enter the code on the screen.
- On the Google two-factor authentication page, click Next.
- Enter the code on your authenticator app and click Verify.
This sets up two-factor authentication on your Google Account. For more tutorials, visit our how-to section.
