Privacy Tip #2: 2FA more security for your social networks
Nowadays many people are active users of social networks; surely you are one of them.
We are used to share a lot of personal or professional information in order to connect with other people in our social circle: friends, family, co-workers or followers. It all depends on what profile your account has on a social network such as Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
But did you know that if your password is not strong enough and if you don't configure the security and privacy settings on your social network accounts correctly, a cracker can take control of these accounts?
If this happens, the damage to you and your followers can be irreparable.
Don't worry, to avoid this today I will explain what you can do to increase the security of your accounts easily and quickly with the second factor authentication (2FA) to prevent this from happening.
What is 2FA?
Second factor authentication, or 2FA, is a second layer of security that many services and social networks have enabled to provide you with an additional level of security so that others cannot access your accounts without your permission.
Three steps to follow to activate 2FA:
- You must go to your social network account settings and look for the security and privacy section. There you will see the option to activate a second layer of security called 2FA, so you must follow the instructions that the social network offers you to properly activate this second layer of security.
- The next step is to install an application on your phone such as Google Authenticator or Authy from an official store (Google Play Store/App Store). This app, once properly configured, offers you a series of random numbers that change every 60 seconds and that only you can see as long as a third party does not access your phone.
- Finally, from the installed app you must scan the QR code or manually enter the alphanumeric code offered by the social network where you want to activate the 2FA.
That's it! You now have 2FA activated for an extra layer of security.
Just remember the following: keep the recovery codes provided by the social network in a safe place once the 2FA activation process is complete in case you lose your phone. Otherwise, you will not be able to access your social network account.
And finally, every time you log in to your social network account from a computer (or activate the account for the first time on your phone) you must enter the username, password and 2FA.
Imagine for a moment losing control of your social networks and someone decides to impersonate you. All your contacts will be within the reach of this criminal, so imagine the damage he can do to your reputation or to those who follow you (Internet scams are common nowadays). In addition, the content you have created over the years will no longer belong to you.
To prevent the above from happening I recommend you to follow my recommendation to activate once and for all the 2FA on ALL your social media accounts.