by Richard Stokes
Raise your hand if you’ve either had your personal email account stolen/cracked or know of someone who has?
Good news for Gmail users is there’s an app that works with your smartphone that gives an additional layer of security via a system called ‘two factor authentication’. What this means is you have to enter some additional information in the form of a 6 digit code after you have entered the password to your account. This stops your email from getting compromised in the event that your password is cracked.
The only downside, at least in my opinion, is that it can sometimes be a pain to go through the second step when you want to check your email. But then I remind myself how bad it would be if my Gmail account was actually ever cracked. Just think about how much stuff you have tied to your email (bank accounts, social media websites, subscriptions, utility bills etc.) and how much time it would take for you to clean all that up!
Since this involves a number of steps here is link to a YouTube video that more fully explains the application, how it works and how to set it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMabEyrtPRg&feature=player_embedded#!
It’s worth the time it takes to set this up. I saw recently that Yahoo introduced a similar authentication process for their email but I have no experience with how well it works or its ease of use. I also don’t know if there are similar security options for other personal email account platforms such as Hotmail, Comcast or AOL but if you are using Gmail I would recommend you get this set up.
