Don't get hacked! Protect your Gmail account with Google Authenticator; FREE for iPhones

tech.hindustantimes.com:

With the recent increase in cyber crimes and instances of hacking, there is a need to actively protect your online accounts and sensitive information that is stored digitally. Just yesterday, March 16, Australian finance provider Latitude Financial became a victim to a mass hacking incident which saw IDs of 3.2 lakh customers getting stolen. And if you use Gmail, bank apps or any such app which contain your personal information, your regular security is not enough. This is where Google Authenticator app comes in as it adds a layer of security to protect your account from password theft and keeps your data on your iPhone or Android phone safe.

The best part about Google Authenticator app is that it is a free-to-use application developed and published by Google. It is available on both Android as well as iOS. The application is easy to set-up, so you do not need to be tech savvy in order to use it and the same application can be used for a wide range of apps including Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more.

It should be noted that there are other third-party authenticator applications available on both Play Store and the App Store but it can sometimes be hard to determine their reliability and efficiency.

The app generates a randomized code which is used to verify that the one logging into the account is you. This is essentially a two-factor authentication (2FA) but with a very important security feature.

Usually 2FA security codes are sent to the user's phone via SMS, but this also carries a security risk. Hackers can sometimes engineer an attack on your phone company and thus compromise SMS-based one-time-passwords (OTPs). The Google Authenticator app instead acts as an interface-secure application which eliminates the