Nov 13, 2017
Securing your Binance account with 2-Factor Authentication
Introduction
In the online world, having a secure account is one of the basic necessities. And when money is involved, security of your account becomes more essential. One of the most popular security features which is prevalent on websites is 2-Factor Authentication (or 2FA, as I’ll refer to it in this post from now). It acts as a secondary “password” to your account that no one can ever guess. Consider 2FA as one of those nuclear launch codes you see in the movies, that changes every 30 seconds. The working of 2FA is quite similar. There is a 6 digit code which changes every 30 seconds — securing your account with a password no one can access. This helps protect your account from hackers who use stolen passwords to attack you. We’ll cover the various ways that users get targeted by hackers in a future article.
Getting started with 2FA
Most websites recommend users to use Google Authenticator. However, Google Authenticator has a major drawback — there is no way to backup your account. If you lose your phone, your keys are lost. Simply put, once the app is deleted, you will not be able to access your account. Moreover, there is no multi-device support on Google Authenticator. This means that you cannot access the code on multiple devices seamlessly, unless you have the original 2FA backup code saved.
Okay, you’ve explained the issue — now, do you have a solution?
Yes! Without further ado, I introduce to you, our saviour — Authy.
Authy has the solution of all the problems mentioned above. I’ll leave a link to their official comparison with GAuth right here.
You can use Authy on both PC as well as any mobile device platform supported. Moreover, the master password is a healthy way to keep it secure on unprotected devices.
Important Note: In case you already set up 2FA on your Binance account using GAuth, you can disable 2FA and follow this guide to set it up on Authy. I’d definitely recommend leaving GAuth to move to Authy.
Setting up 2FA
Step 1. Head over to https://authy.com/download/ and download the application to your device.
Step 2. Start up the Authy app and press on the + button in the middle of the screen. (It may be a different screen depending on your situation.)
Step 3. It may ask you to add a backup password, and I recommend having a backup password for recovering your 2FA accounts later.
Step 4. Login (or register) at Binance.com and head over to this link. Click on “Enable” button, right next to the Google Auth option.
Step 5. You’ll see a page similar to the one shown below on Binance. Copy that 2FA backup key to a secure place, such as a sheet of paper or a diary. This will help you to import it to other Auth applications as well.
Step 6. On Authy, press the Scan QR code button and scan the QR code shown on the website. (The QR code will be similar to the one shown above.)
Step 7. Enter the 2FA code from the app along with your Binance password in their text box shown on the site and press Submit.
It’ll show a Succeed prompt on the page.
And that’s it! Your account is now completely secured and your 2FA keys have been backed up.
I’ll be writing more articles in the future if there is enough positive feedback! These will cover other important topics related to online security, cryptocurrencies, etc.
You can join Binance on the following social platforms:
My Reddit Account : /u/Matador_BNB
