Protecting your online accounts has become more important, as so much of our lives takes place on websites, via email, and through messaging. If someone gets access to some of your accounts – especially your email account – they can get access to others, and potentially usurp your identity.
In order to ensure security, most sensitive services now offer two-factor authentication (sometimes called two-step authentication). This combines something you know – your user name and password – with something you have, which is generally a code that is generated on demand. In many cases, these codes are sent by SMS text messages, and must be used within a few minutes. But SMS is inherently insecure, and other methods are needed to ensure optimal security.
Security keys are another way to add an additional authentication factor. They are portable, like flash drives, and easy to use. In this article, I’m going to explain why you might want to use a security key to protect certain accounts, how to set one up, and how to use it.
Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.