Many users setup accounts with an assortment of websites, some trivial and others, far more important.
Many times when you setup an account for an email service or your Apple ID you will prompted to enter alternative contact details in case you forget your password. These alternative contact details are extremely important and must be kept up to date, a thing that is often forgotten but it can make the difference between losing your account for ever or a very simple recovery procedure.
If you don't have two email addresses then it would be a very good idea to create one but not on the same platform as your existing one. If you have a Gmail address use Hotmail or Yahoo and so on, just in case one of the providers also runs into problems.
You can use each email address as a recovery for the other but then also add a mobile number as not all services can use landlines to send codes.
A recent example we have seen was when a user forgot their Apple ID password and had locked themselves out of their mobile devices so they couldn't receive the reset codes required to change their passwords. Even resetting the devices did not resolve the issue because Find My iPad was activated and needed the password to complete the reset process. In the end they had to submit a request to Apple to unlock the account then sit back and wait for several days before they could proceed, fingers crossed that Apple could help them.
Other methods of account recovery and unlocking can be performed using an Authenticator App on your mobile device, also known as two-factor-authentication, 2FA.
What is an authenticator app?
An authenticator app takes security a step beyond passwords and even beyond traditional 2FA for your accounts. It’s more secure than ordinary 2FA because it doesn’t use a message that someone could intercept.
To break into an account secured with an authenticator app, an attacker would need to access your secret key and the encryption algorithm originally used, or somehow spoof that one-time code. It’s extremely difficult to do either of these, authenticator apps are among the most secure login methods available at the moment.
Why use an authenticator app?
As online breaches grow in size and sophistication, authenticator apps are more than just a good idea. They’re swiftly becoming the new normal to defend personal and business accounts online.
Some of the most common authenticator apps are listed here and are available from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store for Android devices:
Microsoft Authenticator App
2FA Authenticator
Twilio Authy
Cisco Duo Mobile
LastPass Authenticator
Google Authenticator App
FreeOTP
Authenticator apps have evolved from a good idea to necessary security. If you’re not using an authenticator app, you will be soon. If you don’t, you may soon face unmanageable risk in our connected world.
