Be Better Protected on Social Media with Multi-Factor Authentication

Posted on September 8, 2022

With the ever-increasing risk of identity-theft thanks to breaches from some of our favorite brands (Equifax, Target, Home Depot) to name a few, it’s more important than ever to find ways to ensure you’re the only one logging into your online accounts. Social media sites have gotten on board in the last few years in offering more options to make you feel more secure in using their sites. Called Multi-Factor Authentication, sites still use passwords as one level of authentication, but go a step further by identifying what type of device you’re accessing the site from or the location you’re in to determine if it’s likely actually you based upon previous behavior. You may have received email notices or text alerts if you traveled and were notified you’d logged in from a different location than you normally do. This is the site ensuring that it’s really you using your account. A variety of apps are available that you can download to your phone to add this to your sites, including Google Authenticator, LastPass Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, and Authy just to name a few.

Another common option is to opt-in to 2 Factor Authentication through the sites themselves. By doing this, once you log in with your password, you may then be texted a one-time numeric code to use to actually gain access to the site. While this may sound like more work on your part, remember hackers are banking on you not wanting to go that extra step. Commit to 2 Factor Authentication and have greater peace of mind when you’re online. Here’s a general list of the top sites that currently offer it. For more specifics about enrolling and what they each offer, check out this article from PC Magazine – https://www.pcmag.com/feature/358289/two-factor-authentication-who-has-it-and-how-to-set-it-up/.

Top Sites Offering 2 Factor Authentication:

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