Do you have good security for your Google account? Hacking attempts are happening everywhere all of the time, and most are automated while the hackers sit back and relax with their cocktail.
The largest that you might know was that of MySpace where 360 million usernames and passwords were stolen. More recently, in August 2019), Canva the online design tool for small businesses was hacked which resulted in 140 million accounts being stolen.
In the same day that I’m writing this, another huge database of information has been stolen from a gaming company called Zynga which affected 170 million accounts.
So it’s important to make sure you’re taking it seriously before you’re locked out and all of your details have been stolen with this great tip.
It’s less likely to happen to Google, but it’s still possible as there isn’t a single place on Earth that’s safe—even the Pentagon receives hacking attempts.
I will talk about website security in another article—so sign up to be notified if you haven’t already—but this time it’s about improving your Google account security.
Instructions in this article are for a computer (desktop/laptop), but are similar on a phone or tablet.
I show how to do this in the video above, but I have also written out instructions below:
- Visit Google.
- Sign in using the button in the top right.
- Once signed in, you should see a coloured circle instead of the ‘Sign in’ button.
- When you press your icon, choose ‘Manage your Google Account’.
- Next, visit the Security page on the left.
- Now, you’ll want to choose ‘2-step verification’.
- Enter your password again for security verification and press the ‘Turn on’ button.
- Now you will have the opportunity to enter your phone number if you haven’t already.
- (Optional) Also, turn on ‘Backup codes’ and download the file to your computer to use of you don’t have your phone with you.
The next time you log in, Google will text you a number to use as part of your login process.
You are now a lot safer than you were before and it’ll be much more difficult for hackers to break in.
Will you do this? Are you security conscious? Leave a comment below and let me know.