It is clear that every user cares about security when using their mobile . And it is a key aspect that we should never forget. Our usual use of the phone is not only about taking the best possible photos or fully squeezing the Play Store games. In fact, where we spend more time is in messaging apps and social networks and protecting access to our profiles is something of the utmost importance. That is why it is important that we improve their security to the maximum and one of the methods is to use two-step authentication or two-factor authentication, 2FA, which many tools include.
To protect ourselves we can establish passwords to access the apps, protect them by fingerprint… But what happens if someone tries to access our sessions from other devices? This is where protecting the login of all the platforms that we access from the smartphone is essential to avoid possible surprises and the 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) system is very useful to be safe from possible risks. And we will not only see one option, so you can choose the tool that best suits your tastes. We can use it in many of our day-to-day applications: it is available on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter…
Why use two-step authentication?
2FA stands for this security system that protects login by linking a physical device to a website login. It stands for two-step authentication. In other words, it is an additional layer of security for your platforms, helping to address possible vulnerabilities in a much more productive way than with a simple standard password. The perfect example is the need to enter a code that we receive on our mobile (physical device) through an SMS to access our bank’s app (website). Or also, we can get said key through an authentication application, as we will see later.
In any case, as its name suggests, it requires a second step to enter any account , making it more difficult for unauthorized users to steal personal information and do all kinds of things that will generate more than one problem.
In this way, two-step authentication will help us prevent other people from stealing our account , even if they have managed to find out the password that we use in that profile. And not only that, but if our credentials are stolen, there will always be this second step in which we ourselves will have to verify the login. It will not matter which method we choose, since they will be just as effective and will serve us for the same thing: protect our accounts.
How to set up with an app
After knowing how vital it is today in our terminals to have two-step identification for our accounts, it is time to see how it has to be configured. It depends on the method that we configure it with our mobile phone or with an application. What an app allows us is to have the codes sent by the service that we will need to justify that it is us. The steps are easy to follow, so it won’t take long to set it up. The first thing we need to consider is how to configure two-step authentication. It will depend on the application or program that we use that we can configure it in one way or another, but there are some methods that we can use.
Although, it will also depend on the tool we finally choose. In both cases, they will be equally safe, so you will only have to choose the one that you like the most or offers you the most confidence. In this case we are going to give you two different methods that will provide you with greater security: verification by SMS and by an authentication application.
With cyber protector
In the app stores there are different tools to increase the security of your mobile. Ciberprotector is one of the ones that offers the most options to users, both Android and iPhone. In addition, it is a software developed by Webempresa, so we are dealing with a product 100% made in Spain . We are talking about one with different protection measures that, among all of them, the one that we are going to use to protect our social profiles is 2FA, one of the most important.
In order to use this technology and unify all the accounts under the same security system, you simply have to install the brand’s app for iOS or Android to be able to use the physical device and protect the rest of the sites.
Here we will leave the links so that you can download it on your terminals:
Once installed on your mobile, the first thing to do is configure double authentication to access the Ciberprotector account. These are the steps to follow:
- Link your site account with the 2FA app on your mobile.
- The app will take care of generating a 6-digit code that is regenerated every 30 seconds.
- Enter it after logging in with your username and password just before logging in.
What we achieve in this way is that only the owner of the device where we have installed the Ciberprotector app receives the code to complete the 2-factor access to the website. No one who does not have your device would be able to log in if it is protected with this 2-Factor Authentication system. Once we have configured the application and we have the 2FA tool enabled, we can use it to manage all the platforms that we have accessed with the mobile. In this way, whenever we try to enter one of our profiles from any device, we must enter the code that will reach the smartphone we have in hand.
Google Authenticator
In this case, we are dealing with an application that will send us a code directly within the app. That is, we will not receive an SMS on the phone, but the account in which we configure will ask us for a password that we will have to look at within this Google tool . In addition, it is available for both Android and iPhone. It will help us to protect our Facebook, Outlook, Amazon profiles, among other accounts. So, the first thing in this case too, will be to download the software from the following links:
Simply, it will show us a six-digit numerical code that changes every 30 seconds and that you must use to verify your identity after logging in. To configure it, we must follow the following steps:
- Install Google Authenticator on your mobile.
- Activate two-step verification on the account you want to protect and show the QR code.
- Scan the QR code with this app.
- Log in to the website you want to set up and enter your username and password.
- Write the numerical code that Google Authenticator will give you on the web.
And, in general, all the steps will be practically the same on all the pages that support this type of verification in two steps. So not much will change.
Authentication in social networks and apps
There are other applications that allow us to install or use two-step authentication to improve our security, we can do it directly from our profiles on social networks and most of them work with an SMS code that we will receive on our mobile.
On Instagram
The steps on Instagram are simple:
- We open the social network.
- Let’s go to our profile.
- We touch on the three horizontal lines> ‘ Settings ‘.
- We choose ‘Security’.
- We activate ‘ Authentication in two steps’.
We can choose the one we like the most: with an authentication application, text message or other methods.
On twitter
Also on Twitter we can configure it as follows:
- Open the app.
- Tap on your profile photo .
- Open the ‘Settings and privacy’ section of the application.
- Tap on ‘Account’ > ‘ Security ‘.
- Choose the ‘Two- Factor Authentication ‘ option.
- Choose between the two options: authenticator app or SMS.
- Follow the steps to activate it.
It will give us a choice between three options: text message, authentication app, security key.
on whatsapp
In the case of this smartphone instant messaging application, we can also do it in the following way:
- Access the app on your mobile.
- Click on the ‘ Settings ‘ > ‘ Account ‘ tab.
- Then tap on the ‘ Two-Step Verification ‘ option.
- Finally, activate the option.
On Facebook
Within Facebook, the steps that we will have to follow will be these:
- Open the app.
- Click on the three horizontal lines.
- Go to ‘Settings and privacy’ > ‘ Settings ‘.
- Click on ‘Security and login’.
- Scroll down and tap on the ‘ Use two-factor authentication ‘ tab.
You will be able to choose between receiving a message via SMS, an authenticator application or another secondary method.
on Telegram
Finally, we go with this same option, but within Telegram:
- Enter the app on your Android phone or iPhone.
- Click on the ‘ Settings ‘ section.
- Go to ‘Privacy and security’.
- Tap on ‘ Two-Step Verification ‘.
- Activate the option by clicking on ‘ Put additional password ‘.
Within this application, it will let us choose to establish a password to log in and, in addition, we will receive an SMS to our mobile number.
