Two factor authentication is a way to provide an extra layer of security to the user accounts compared to what just a username and password combo provides. The two-factor authentication requires that you use your smartphone or a special device to generate and use a code specific to your user account and valid only for a very short time. This way even if your account login credentials are stolen by hackers, they still won’t be able to use them because they don’t have any device configured to work with the two-factor authentication.
Battle.net, a website operated by the well known computer games company Blizzard Inc., is also offering two factor authentication to secure your accounts against hack attacks. Here is how you can enable two step authentication in Battle.Net (all you need is a smartphone (iPhone or Android)):
- Visit Battle.Net website in your web browser and login to your account.
- After successfully logging in in to your account, visit https://battle.net/account/management/authenticator.html.
- Click on Setup an Authenticator in your web browser. It will verify your email address and then it will show you links for downloading the apps for your smartphone.
- Install the Battle.net Authenticator app in your Android or iPhone smartphone. Launch the app, it will also verify your Battle.Net account and the email address.
- Enter the digital serial number in the web browser.
- Generate a code by tapping on Enter code manually in the app and enter it too in web browser.
- As you click on the Add Authenticator button in the web browser, it will finish the process and switch back to the login web page. This time you can login just by accepting the request in your smartphone.
Even though the process is very cumbersome for most of the people, it will protect your account from targeted hacking of gaming credentials. So it is always better to enable the two-factor authentication for your online accounts.