Dropbox has enabled two-step verification for its accounts, in light of recent security breaches.
At the end of July, Dropbox announced it was working on introducing added security measures. At the time, Dropbox had been receiving e-mails from some users about getting spam on e-mail addresses used only for Dropbox.
“Our investigation found that usernames and passwords recently stolen from other Web sites were used to sign in to a small number of Dropbox accounts,” it stated.
“Keeping Dropbox secure is at the heart of what we do, and we're taking steps to improve the safety of your Dropbox even if your password is stolen.”
At the time, Dropbox said it was working on optional two-step verification, whereby a temporary six-digit code is sent to the user's phone when signing in or linking a new device. This code then needs to be entered in addition to the user's password.
“At the same time, we strongly recommend you improve your online safety by setting a unique password for each Web site you use. Though it's easy to reuse the same password on different Web sites, this means if any one site is compromised, all your accounts are at risk.”
The danger of having many linked accounts was recently illustrated by the hacking of Wired journalist Mat Honan, whose entire digital life was erased by a hacker who sought to gain control of his Twitter handle.
Honan noted: “Had I used two-factor authentication for my Google account, it's possible that none of this would have happened.”
Full instructions on how to enable two-step verification can be found in the Dropbox Help Centre here.
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