For example, if you were to enable 2FA on your Facebook account, you would be required to enter not only your login details but also a verification code whenever you’d want to sign in to your Facebook account from a new device. With 2FA enabled, however, Facebook sends an automatic text message to your mobile device during the sign-in process containing a verification code to enter in order to successfully log into your account. Social media accounts are a good start, but more important, you should enable 2FA on any account that stores your financial information and other personal identification details. The list below can help you identify which accounts you should take care of as soon as possible. Banks make sure to budget hundreds of millions of dollars to take care of fraudulent activity, and you’ll get your money back as long as you notify your bank of any sign of fraud within 60 days, but nobody wants to have to deal with that in the first place — so look for 2FA in the account settings or security settings of all services where you do any banking, borrowing, investing or other type of financial activity. Common financial account sources to look for 2FA:
Checking and savings accounts Credit and debit card accounts Mortgage accounts Loan accounts Investment accounts Foreign currency accounts Tax filing service accounts Accounting and bookkeeping service accounts Online payment service accounts (such as PayPal and Venmo) Personal financial management service accounts (such as Mint.com) Billing and payroll service accounts
If a hacker logged into your account, they could gain access to your credit card numbers or other payment information. The could steal it to use for their own fraudulent use or potentially even change your monthly plan — perhaps upgrading it for a more expensive cost to use it themselves while you end up paying for it. Consider any accounts you have that store personal and financial information for paying your monthly bills. These would typically include communication services (cable TV, internet, phone) and possibly household utility services such as electricity, gas, water, and heat. Popular utility services that are known to offer 2FA:
Comcast / XfinityGoogle FiberSonicTing
If anyone were to ever gain access to your Apple ID or Google account login details, you could end up with several unwanted purchases charged to your account or stolen personal information from your other linked services. All of this information is stored on Apple and Google servers, so anyone with a compatible device and your login details could instantly gain access to it. Both Apple and Google have instruction pages that walk you through the complete steps you should take to set up 2FA on your Apple ID and Google account. Remember, you won’t have to enter a verification code every time except for the very first time you log in on a new device. Although you might find it unlikely that smaller online retailers offer 2FA as an extra security option for their users, many larger retailers do indeed have it in place. Popular subscription services that are known to offer 2FA: Again, like many online retailers, not every subscription service is going to have 2FA as part of its security feature offering, but it’s always worth checking. Popular subscription services that are known to offer 2FA:
Netflix Spotify Twitch Adobe Norton Security GoDaddy
Let this be a reminder that even the place where you keep all your login details secure needs to be secured. In fact, if you use a password or identity management tool, this might be the most important place of all to look for 2FA. If anyone ever obtained your details to get into your account, they’d gain access to login information for not only one account, but any accounts where you have information stored there — from your bank account and your Gmail account to your Facebook account and your Netflix account. Hackers could take their pick and choose to compromise as many of your accounts as they’d want. Popular password and identity management tools that are known to offer 2FA:
1Password (currently in progress)CentrifyKeeperLastPassOneLogin
At this time, the Social Security Administration is the only major US government service that offers 2FA as an extra security feature on its website. Unfortunately for others like the Internal Revenue Service and Healthcare.gov, you’ll just have to keep your details as safe as possible the old fashioned way and wait to see if they jump on the 2FA bandwagon in the future.
