By Charles Joseph | Cybersecurity Researcher

 Published on November 27th, 2022

This post was updated on November 25th, 2023

Two-step authentication is an extra layer of security that can be added to an account login. With two-step authentication enabled, a user must enter not only their username and password but also a second code typically sent to their phone via text message. This makes it much harder for someone to hack into an account, as they would need the username and password and physical access to the user’s phone to log in.

Key Points

• Two-step authentication is an extra layer of security that can be added to online accounts.
• It typically involves the user providing a second factor, such as a code sent to their phone and their username and password.
• Two-step authentication can help protect against account hijacking and phishing attacks.
• Some online services, such as Google and Facebook, offer two-step authentication as an option for their users.