Two-step sign-in on the account everything depends on
Turn on the one setting that stops somebody who has your password from getting into your email.
If somebody gets into your email, they do not need any of your other passwords. They can ask each of those companies to send a reset — to the mailbox they are already sitting in.
Two-step sign-in adds a second check to the password: a short code sent to your phone. Knowing the password stops being enough, because the phone is in your pocket.
Key points
- Turn on two-step sign-in with a code sent to your phone
- Know what an unexpected code means, and what to do about it
- Print ten backup codes so a lost phone never becomes a lost account
What to remember
- A text message is the easiest sort to set up. An app on the phone is a little stronger, and works with no signal.
- An unexpected code is good news and bad news together: somebody has your password, and they are not getting in.
- Backup codes are the answer to "what if I lose the phone?". Print them once and forget them.
Try this
Turn two-step sign-in on for your email account this week — look under Security or Sign-in, which is where providers usually put it. Do the backup codes in the same sitting, while you are already there.
Practice: Two-step sign-in on the account everything depends on. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.