A few months after its revival, Google introduced second sign-in. Yahoo! has introduced an extra layer too to protect your accounts. Users can opt for second sign-in in their email settings.

They can either get a secret code via SMS, a phone call or an email to an alternative id. Or, they can even fill in pre-determined answers to a couple of security questions.

A pop-up comes soon after users sign-in to their accounts with their primary passwords. The second sign-in verification helps prevent unauthorised access to your account through a stolen password.

With hackers devising more and more methods to barge into your mail, the onus is on to you be more vigilant as you check into your account. If you are indiscriminately logging in to your accounts at public places, chances of hacking only grow more.

Keyloggers installed in computers at Internet cafes and other public net access points could remember your passwords and instantaneously transfer them back to hackers sitting hundreds of kilometres away. Why, your neighbourhood net café owner too might have installed such software.

Like several banks introduced secondary layer to protect their account holders from phishing attacks and hacking, email service providers too have begun to offer such protection.

“This second sign-in verification (after your password) will deter unauthorised people from your account. However, if you choose the ‘use only my mobile phone number for verification' option, you will not be given the option to answer a security question but will have to enter a verification code that we'll send to your mobile phone,” Yahoo! has informed its users.

> kurmanath@thehindu.co.in

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