Today in our #nohacked campaign, we’ll be talking about two-factor authentication. Follow along with discussions on
Twitter and
Google+ using the #NoHacked tag. (
Part 1,
Part 2)
There was once a time when having a relatively strong password or answering a security question was a reasonable way to protect your online accounts. However, according to
a study from Stop Badware, stolen credentials is a common way for hackers to compromise websites. Additionally, even reputable sites can fall victim to hacking, potentially exposing your personal data like passwords to attackers.
Fortunately, two-factor authentication can help you keep your accounts safer. Two-factor authentication relies on an additional source of verification, in conjunction with your password, to access your account. You might have used two-factor authentication before if you have ever been prompted for a code from your phone when logging into a social media site or from a chip card reader when logging into a bank account. Two-factor authentication makes it more difficult for someone to log into your account even if they have stolen your password.
As a website owner, you should enable two-factor authentication on your accounts where possible.
A compromised account can cause you to lose important personal data and valuable reputation for your site. Two-factor authentication can give you the ease of mind that your accounts and data are safer.
Google currently offers
2-Step Verification for all of its accounts, including accounts from Google Apps domains. You can use your phone, a hardware token like a
Security Key, or the
Google Authenticator app to verify your account. These options give you flexibility when traveling or when you don’t have access to the mobile network.
If your hosting provider,
Content Management System (CMS), or any type of platform you use for managing your site doesn’t offer two-factor authentication, ask their customer support for an option to use two-factor authentication in the future.They can build two-factor authentication into their own platforms using
Google’s open source code. If your platform or hoster doesn’t provide strong protection against unauthorized access consider hosting your content elsewhere. You can see a list of websites that support two-factor authentication, including what types of authentication options they offer, at
https://twofactorauth.org/.
If you have any additional questions, you can post in the
Webmaster Help Forums where a community of webmasters can help answer your questions. You can also join our
Hangout on Air about Security on August 26.
Posted by: Eric Kuan, Webmaster Relations Specialist & Yuan Niu, Webspam Analyst
