How safe are your online accounts? If you log in with only a password, the unfortunate truth is that your accounts are at risk of being hacked. Microsoft, though, has undertaken steps to secure your Microsoft online accounts. That’s because the company now offers two-step verification, a procedure where you must log on not just with a password but with a security code, as well. Ed Rhee, a writer with CNET, recently explained how this process works and why it’s important in a recent column.
Enhanced security
As Rhee writes, Microsoft introduced its own two-step verification process in mid-April. If you enable it, you’ll first have to enter a password to log onto your Microsoft accounts. As soon as you do that, you’ll need to take one more step: entering a personal security code to finish the log-in process.
Personal security code
To get your personal security code, you tell Microsoft either to e-mail it to you or send you the code on your mobile device. You can also use a Microsoft app to retrieve a security code. After you have the code, you enter it, to complete the log-in process.
Secure
You might not like the thought of complicating the log-in process. But two-step verification is very effective at slowing down hackers. As Rhee writes, anyone that logs into Microsoft accounts really should take advantage of Microsoft’s new security measure.