TECHnically Speaking – 2 Step Google Verification
Recently the 2013 report for the top 25 passwords came out. As Gizmodo said, “God Help Us”. If your password is on that list, go change it…now. I’ll wait.
Welcome back! Internet safety is tricky. Even really crafty people get hacked but you should at least do the bare minimum of having a unique password with mixed characters, number and symbols. If you have a Google account (even just gmail), you should consider turning on 2 step verification.
Here is how it works.
- Log in with the correct credentials.
- You are prompted to enter a code you have been texted or called and told (you supply your number in the settings upon setup).
- Enter the code and now that device is cleared for take off.
It’s simple and really doesn’t take away from your experience unless you are just someone signing in away from a phone. You can see how this would be hard to bypass. It is only being texted to you…so you are the only one that can get past that point.
Interested? Well here is how you set it up:
- Go to Google.com
- Log in to the account you would like to have it on.
- Right click your picture in the top right corner.
- Click Account on the popover.
- In the spawned tab/window, click the Security tab at the top.
- Under Password, see “2-step verification” and a link to Setup.
- Click the Start Setup button.
- Enter the phone number you will want to be contacted with.
- Click next to be texted or called a code.
- Enter the code and hit Verify.
- Determine if you want it always assume this device is safe. (it won’t do this check again for this device).
- Hit Confirm.
Now it will ask you to reconnect your apps. This isn’t trivial. Go here to see more about that.
You’re all set. Now when you go to use an app that connects with your Google identity(YouTube, Hangouts, Picasa, Google app), you are going to have to do this(just one time). It is a little headache but in the long run, you are a lot safer.
