In spite of the fact that Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is a generally old security apparatus to get your login, many have not yet empowered the component to keep their records from being abused. Indeed, 2FA adds an additional progression to your sign-in measure, and empowering it for each record could be a little tedious, yet an unprotected secret word will make it simpler for fraudsters to access your debit/credit cards, social media accounts, or bank account.
If you link any third-party accounts and sites to your Google account, then you need to enable Two-factor Authentication because if a hacker hacks your Google account then he will be able to access all linked accounts and sites that are connected. Many people think that this will not happen to them, but you want to understand that hackers can hack your account through some hacking methods such as credential stuffing, phishing scams, brute-force attacks, and so on.
You can easily avoid these types of situations by enabling Two-factor Authentication as it will require an OTP to log in that will be sent to your smartphone. SO the hackers cannot log in to your account if he has the password.
Google’s 2FA options
To protect your account from hackers and unauthorized persons, Google offers few options after enabling two-Factor Authentication. You can sign in to your account with backup codes, or it will send instant code via text message, voice call, or via Google Authenticator app that no one can access. We can also enable push notification or even use a physical security key.
Can Two-Factor Authentication be hacked?
Two-factor authentication, although not 100% hack-proof, is one of the most effective ways available to safeguard your accounts. If it seems like a minor hassle, weigh that brief inconvenience against the headaches of clearing up identity theft,
Kaspersky spokesperson
Two-Factor Authentication can prevent misuse of data. Worldwide financial institutions use Two-Factor Authentication to send a one-time password(OTP) via SMS, but SMS text message is not the best method, because when the lock-screen notifications are enabled one can easily get the password that sent to you via SMS. Even when the notifications are turned off, making SMS messages with passwords, or even when the SIM card is removed and installed in another phone. The SMS message can be intercepted by a Trojan ambush inside the smartphone.
Emails are also not safe,
Trickbot, which is a banking trojan, send unsolicited emails that direct users to download malware from malicious websites or trick them into opening malware through an attachment,
Sundar Balasubramanian
TrickBot operators has developed some malicious applications called TrickMo. This TrickMo can intercepts the OTP that bank send to their customers for authentication. TrickMo can intercepts the OTP without the knowledge of the user.
What we can do to secure our online accounts?
The more secure option is TOTP(Time-based One-Time Password), which is an algorithm that is used in many smartphone applications. The TOTP algorithm shares a secret random seed value with the authentication device. The server and the authentication device use a common algorithm to transform this seed over time.
Users can also use different types of keys: For example, an authenticator app on your smartphone as the primary one, and a U2F token or a slip of paper with one-time passwords in your safe as a backup. In any case, the main piece of advice is to avoid using SMS-based one-time passwords whenever possible, especially for banking-related accounts
Kaspersky spokesperson
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