Help video: How to additionally secure your account with two-factor authentication

Created at 23.August 2017, 16:30 | Category: Blog

Dear Posteo users,

We are often asked whether Posteo accounts can be additionally secured without requiring specific knowledge of computers. One possibility is to use two-factor authentication, which we have offered for some time now.

Two-factor authentication is simple but effective additional protection against unauthorised access. When logging in to the webmail interface, a one-time password is required in addition to the personal password. Two-factor authentication prevents account theft: If criminals or intelligence services capture your access information (username and password), they then have no possibility to access your account settings, change your password and lock you out of your account. Third party access of your account and security settings is effectively prevented.

In our experience, people without special knowledge of IT often do not trust themselves to activate two-factor authentication. Optimal online security is important for all, however. For this reason we have today published a video in which our help section editor Tim Vüllers shows you step-by-step how to set up the additional protection. He also explains how the process fundamentally works as well as demonstrating how he uses it on an everyday basis. In addition, he reveals another security trick – if you do not use Posteo with external email programs (such as Outlook and Thunderbird), you can block access for such programs. Thus two factor authentication additionally protects your emails against unauthorised access.

In future, we will be making additional help videos available. Our videos can be accessibly viewed with subtitles. There are also versions of the video available in English and French.

With two-factor authentication, no additional costs are incurred and you can use it on many different devices (computer, smartphone, tablet, YubiKey).
By the way: Our customer support is happy to provide further personalised help if you have any questions or problems with two-factor authentication. Detailed step-by-step instructions for setup can alternatively also be found in the Posteo help section.

Best regards,

The Posteo team