Two Step Authentication Process !

As a normal user, we tend to believe that having a combination of a unique username and a strong password is all the thing that we require to have a secure account as the combination of a username along with the password act as a single key for a single lock, you simply have to provide the username and the password and the lock of your account will be opened and now you can access it easily.As most of the people tend to use simple passwords like their own name, or their birthdate or even the name of their pets, the most common mistake is they tend to use the same username and password over many websites and also make browser to remember their credentials and sometimes they even make a sticky note of their credentials and more often than not save it onto the desktop of their system.Until the moment you are the only one who is accessing the system its fine but just imagine if an unauthenticated person is using your system and he will automatically get into your system as your credentials are already there and the lock is already opened.

On the other hand, if you are good with your password and you are having a strong password to your account, it does not really assure guaranteed security for your account. It is possible for skillful hackers to code a key-logging program and place it on your system that will remember the keys that you have pressed. Using Username and Password is a One Step Authentication Process that is quite prone to attacks and hacks.

The solution to these kinds of problems is to implement the Two Step Authentication Process rather than just have to pass a single security step to get into the account, there can be another step that will ask for something apart from your regular credentials and only after providing it correctly you can have access to your account.This can really help you to protect your account against Unauthenticated persons, no matter if they somehow manage to steal your regular set of credentials they won't be having the access to the second step key or pin to access the account.

• Recently WhatsApp has launched a Two-Step Verification process for their users. Users have to go to their Account settings and from there they need to choose the Two-Step Verification Process and have to enable it, In order to enable it the user have to select a Passcode of 6 digits and an email address for the backup purpose, if the user somehow forgets the passcode, the email address can be used to disable the two-step verification. If this feature is enabled in your WhatsApp account then you won't be able to reverify your number within 7 days of last using WhatsApp without using Passcode.Providing email Address is optional but if you forget the passcode then you won't be able to access your account for at least 7 days and you can only reverify your account after 7 days without using passcode but your all messages will be lost.If your number is reverified on WhatsApp after 30 days of last using WhatsApp, and without your passcode, your account will be deleted and a new one will be created upon successfully reverifying.Whatsapp will be asking your Passcode periodically to help you remember the passcode. 


• To enable two-step verification, open WhatsApp > Settings > Account > Two-step verification > Enable


• Source: https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/26000021, 


• If you want to secure your Gmail account, you can enable a two-step authentication there as well. Below are the steps for enabling a two-step authentication process in your Gmail account.


1. Click here to start with, two-step authentication.


2. Then Sign-In to your Gmail account after signing in you have to find Password & Sign-in Method, there you will see 2-Step Verification which is off by default.































3. Now Click on it and you will see a new page that will be introducing you with the 2-step verification feature.Click on Get Started.











































4. After Clicking on the Get Started Button the Gmail will again ask you to login to your Gmail account.


5. After that, the setup wizard will ask you to provide your mobile number, where you will be getting the code either by call or text message.









































6. Now Click on NEXT, then you will receive a code either via a text message or via a phone call, depends upon the option you selected on the previous page.









































7. After entering the code just click NEXT, if the code is correct you will get into the next page that will ask you to TURN ON the 2-Step Verification.Just Click on Turn On.









































8. This Will turn on the 2-Step Verification Process in your Gmail Account and you will be presented with a page that will be telling you about some other functionality as well, like set up alternative methods.You can setup these alternative methods as a backup for your code method, for example, if you are traveling on a flight then you won't be able to get a message or a phone call as your phone will be on flight code so you can use backup codes there to sign in to your account.













































9. Now next time when you will log in to your account after providing the normal username and password, an additional code you will be asked to enter that will be sent to you by Gmail.You can also tick the check box so that on this device verification code won't be asked next time.

Two-step authentication process is a good step for making our online accounts more secure and in near future we will be seeing number of companies using this technology. I hope this article of mine have helped you in understanding the importance of 2-step verification process and how we can enable it in our Gmail and WhatsApp Accounts.