LinkedIn today announced that it has added optional two-step verification to its sign-in process. With this move, LinkedIn joins Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook and numerous other services that have recently enabled two-factor authentication to make it harder for hackers to compromise their users’ accounts.
Unlike some of these other services, LinkedIn’s system doesn’t offer a smartphone app. Instead, it can only send codes via SMS.
Two-step verification ensures that just having a password (“something you know”) isn’t good enough to compromise an account. Instead, users also need a second factor (“something you have”) to log in to their accounts. Given the recent proliferation of hacked accounts on Twitter and other services, two-factor authentication is quickly becoming the new standard for thwarting unauthorized sign-ins. While it’s a bit of a hassle, it is miles ahead of the standard password-only approach.
LinkedIn will prompt users for this second factor when it detects that a user is signing in from an unknown computer or device. Unlike some of these other services, LinkedIn’s system doesn’t offer a smartphone app. Instead, it can only send codes via SMS.
Here is how to set this up:
