Two-Factor Authentication - How To Secure Your Accounts

All that stands between your riches, reputation, privacy, and sensitive data are a few letters, one or two numbers, and a symbol here or there – if at all. Passwords serve as our digital bodyguards and while important, it's also necessary to be able to easily remember them. How many of them have you typed in today?

Most people are logged in somewhere at all times. Convenience leads us to create easy-to-remember passwords or use the same ones over and over again. Who is actually able to remember a string of random upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters?

But here is where the dangers lurk. As a general rule, the easier it is for you to remember a password, the easier it is for a hacker to crack. Once that occurs, cybercriminals will have access to your most sensitive data. This applies in even greater measure to your password manager's master password.

Should you want to make hacking into your account nearly impossible, you're going to need two-factor authentication.

Once 2FA has been activated, simply log into your online account the same as you did in the past, using your username and password. Since passwords only provide limited protection, you'll need to verify your identity through an additional step. Often, this is accomplished by sending a PIN to a smartphone linked to that account or generated by a 2FA app.

The advantages of two-factor authentication are obvious:

But that extra layer of protection is not without disadvantages:

With that said, the advantages of using 2FA far outweigh its disadvantages. However, not every 2FA method is the same. As we noted above, there exist numerous providers, methods, and applications, with the setup process varying from application to application.

The example below provides a step-by-step demonstration of how to set up two-factor authentication with one of the most popular password managers.

Dashlane is one of the 12 tools we reviewed in our comprehensive analysis of password managers. Like many of its competitors, Dashlane offers users the ability to turn on 2FA, however, this must be done manually.

To start, go to the "Extras" submenu or press Ctrl+O to open the app's settings. Then go to "Security", and click on the "Two-Factor Authentication" tab.

In the pop-up window that opens, you'll be able to select whether you want 2FA to be activated for every login or only when logging in from a new device. Choosing the former prevents thieves from gaining access to your account even if they have your master password and your devices.

In order to use 2FA with Dashlane, you'll need an authenticator app. This means that apart from knowing your master password, you'll also need to physically have a compatible smartphone or tablet with the app installed on it.

To do this, download a compatible app and follow its installation instructions. For our purposes, we used Google Authenticator. You can input the key provided by Dashlane or scan the QR code with the authenticator app.

And that's it! Your Dashlane app now has 2FA. Depending on your settings, the app will challenge your identity using the authenticator app you selected, either whenever you log in, or only when you do so from an unknown device.

2FA is great but only if you physically possess the second authentication factor. Sometimes phones or tablets are stolen or lost. No worries though, as even in that scenario, password managers have got your back.

Returning to our example, Dashlane generates 10 backup codes when you configure two-factor authentication that you can save onto your hard drive.

Each combination serves as a one-time replacement for the security code generated by the authenticator app. If you want to turn off 2FA or switch devices, you'll need to input one of those codes.

Like we mentioned above, there are many ways to use two-factor authentication and every password manager takes a unique approach. Some provide 2FA functionality to premium users only, so pay attention to this when selecting a service.

In general, 2FA is becoming more and more important to consumers with providers reacting to the increased demand by integrating it into their platforms and making it as easy to use as possible. For further information about password managers and what they can do, be sure to check out our guide.