Protect your account with a 2-step verification
Your DigitalPress account is protected by a password. Passwords represent a basic protection for your account to prevent the bad guys from getting to your data and blogs.
As the internet matured, people signed up for more and more online services and have and increasing number of accounts on different social media networks, music services, email providers, etc. It's a common practice to use one or a couple of passwords shared across these sites. People often use the same password. Let's be honest – it's convenient. However once a single site is compromised, hackers automatically to get access to your account on all other platforms as well. They use automated tools to find sites where you signed up. This means that no account is safe after your password has been compromised.
Browsers help you discover if your password has been compromised
Since people often use only a couple passwords for their accounts, Google Chrome team has decided to show you a notification if they believe your password may have been compromised. Chrome uses public records to discover if your password has been ever exposed and show you a notification after signing in with such password.
Google describes in their blog post how it keeps your password safe. Google says no one can get access to your password while Chrome runs a search in public databases, including Google. The notifications are really convenient – they help you reconsider if you should think about changing your password.
Has my account been hacked?
There's a interesting website available online called Have I Been Pwned which lets you search for accounts which have been part of a data breach. It helps you check if your account may have been compromised in the past.
Have I Been Pwned site searches a list of data breaches from multiple sources and checks if your email address may have been compromised during a data breach. If it was, it usually means that your password has been compromised as well and is no longer considered safe.
Give it a shot and try to see if your email address has been in fact part of any data breach. You may discover there are sites you don't even remember signing up for which leaked your account information 🤔
How to protect your account?
To increase level of protection of your account, you can enable 2-step verification. It's an additional layer of protection which further secures your account from being compromised. It works like this:
- You sign in to a site as usual – using your username and password
- The website then asks you for a one-time code in order to complete the sign in process
The one-time code is generated by your mobile phone and changes every 30 seconds which makes it extra secure. Since it's inconvenient to always use a one-time code during every sign in, you can opt to remember your device so the website will not ask you again for a one-time code when using this device.
If you sign in from a new device your account is still protected by a 2-step verification and you will need the one-time code. But signing in from your home PC/Mac will be convenient as before.
In order to enable 2-step verification on DigitalPress, you will need:
- Google Authenticator app installed on your mobile phone
(iOS version or Android version - it's free) - DigitalPress account with 2-step verification enabled
To enable 2-step verification visit your account information in our web dashboard and click Add authenticator app.
A QR code will be shown to you. Open Google Authenticator app on your phone, click "+" in the top right and scan the QR code on the screen.
Confirm 2-step verification for your DigitalPress account by typing a one-time code from the application. Congratulations, your account is now protected with a 2-step verification process 🎉 How easy was that?
Try and see how it works. Sign out from your account and sign in again. After entering your username and password you are asked for a one-time code:
Open Google Authenticator application on your phone and enter a one-time code. Verify the code and you're signed in 👍
Your account has 2-step verification enabled now. If your password is ever compromised, your account is safe because without the one-time code no one can sign in to your account.
It's easy to protect your account
2-step verification is a great way to increase the level of protection of your account. It's been implemented by many other sites and I highly recommend enabling it on all accounts which you care about.
Start with your email and social network accounts. It's an easy way to make sure you don't lose access to a network of your friends, pictures, videos or other valuable data.