WhoGoHost, a web solutions company in Nigeria, has offered a suggestion to Internet users to consider enabling two-factor authentication to protect their email account details from cyber criminals.
As the growing demand for email security becomes a major concern for Internet users, WhoGoHost reminds that emails have become a very important part of lives, where the password to all critical online access is sent to by simply clicking the “forgot password” link.
The Nigerian tech company says email account users should regularly change their passwords, and cited Reuters report, that Hold Security uncovered a total of 40 million Yahoo Mail, 33 million Microsoft, and almost 24 million Gmail accounts that were compromised.
“If you have an email account with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or Mail.ru, then it may be time to change your password. This is because hundreds of millions of login details associated with email accounts with these providers have been circulating amongst digital criminals,” WhoGoHost advises in a recent customer advisory reviewed by Technology Times.
The company thus suggest that while changing the passwords, email account users should consider enabling two-step authentication, saying “it is better to be safe than to be sorry.”
The two factor authentication is a way to secure your client area as it makes you login using your traditional password (something you know) and a token generated from a device such as your smart phone (something you have), WhoGoHost says.
This means that even if someone knows your password, your account is still secured as he would need to generate a token from your smartphone.
The company gives the steps to activate two-factor authentication on client area as follows:
- Download the Google Authenticator for iOS and Android. If you use any other platform, you may search within your app store for an authenticator on your smartphone.
- Login to your client area with the correct details.
- Click on your name at the right of your screen. Choose the “Two-Factor Authenticator” sub menu to open the page.
- Click on the Enable Two-Factor Authentication button to get started.
- Open your Google Authenticator app on your smartphone and click on the menu item Set up account. Scan the QR code presented on your screen with the app. You may be prompted to download a scanner, in case you don’t have it.
After setting up the account, Google Authenticator would present a time-based code. Enter the code in the space provided and click the button to verify. You can return to this page to disable two factor authentication at any time.
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