To protect our personal and banking data two-factor authentication is essential even on services like Amazon, let's see how to set it up
We've said it many times: two-factor authentication is one of the best ways to protect our accounts. Among the services where you have to set it there is definitely Amazon. On the e-commerce, in fact, there are our bank and personal data. Here's how to activate two-step verification on Amazon.
Let's start right away by saying that activating two-factor authentication on the e-commerce site is simple and doesn't take much time. In fact, we only need a few steps. For those who don't know it, let's explain that two-factor verification is a feature designed to ensure that only you can access your account, even if some malicious person gets to know your password. To access the account, in fact, we will have to enter, in addition to the password, a code that is generated automatically and that is provided on the smartphone or other device chosen by us.
Two-step verification with SMS
Amazon offers two types of two-factor authentication. We'll be able to use the classic one, that is, the message with the code to be sent to one of our devices, or use a specific app that generates codes with each new login. In this guide we'll see both solutions and how to install them on our account. Let's start with the one we'll define as "classic", that is, based on the text message. To activate the two-step verification on the Amazon website we enter our personal area. At this point we click on the My Account item. It is located in the upper right part of the site, and is the first item we find. At this point a new page will appear and we will have to click on the heading "Access and Security Settings": it will open a page called as "Change Account Settings". Let's go to the item called "Advanced security settings: decide how and when to receive security codes", and click on Edit. At this point another new page will open and here we have to click on the golden button with "First steps" written on it. At this point we are close to the conclusion of the installation of two-factor verification on our account. The site will ask us to enter our phone number and we'll receive a code via SMS to enter to confirm that the number is secure.
Two Step Verification on Amazon with App
If we don't want to use the SMS system, we can safely use an app to authenticate on Amazon. Activating it is easy and the path is identical to that indicated above. So let's go to our account and log in. At this point we click on "Access and Security Settings". Next we have to click on the item "Advanced Security Settings: Decide how and when to receive security codes", and click on Edit. On the new page that opens select First Steps and select the last item Use an authentication app". At this point we'll have to scan the QR code that appears to generate the authentication code. Then we'll just have to enter the code to access the service.
Disable Two-Factor Authentication
If after a while we got bored with the service for protecting our account, no problem. Disabling two-factor authentication on Amazon is easy. Let's go to our personal profile and then to the "Access and Security Settings" item. At this point we do the now familiar path and already described above, and click edit under "Advanced Security Settings: decide how and when to receive security codes". Once the page opens instead of going to First Steps we'll have to click on Disable and then Confirm. And that's it.