This was originally posted on June 18, 2013… to the wrong blog. Oops!

2-step Verification is now enabled for all Sodpit.com Google accounts. You can optionally turn it on for your account if you want to by signing in to your Sodpit Gmail Account and then signing up for 2-step Verification. Again, this is completely optional. You can access this area any time by clicking the icon for your account (your picture) and then clicking Account. I have been using 2-step verification with my @gmail.com address for about 6 months and it turns out it really isn’t that bad.

Pros: It locks down your Google account so only you can access it using devices you manually approve each time. Every time you attempt to access your account from a new device, Google prompts you to supply an approval code. You can do this with Google Authenticator for Android or iPhone/iPad or via TXT messages. Additionally you can pre-approve devices/apps by supplying application-specific passwords. And on top of that you can print out 10 backup codes to keep in your wallet in case you ever get in a bind and can’t login.

Cons: The only major (really not that major) con I ran into was during the setup of a new Android device. An account with 2-step verification enabled always fails initially but it fails over to a bypass method which still allows you to "sign in via the web" or something to that effect. It’s harmless, one extra step, and it always works after this. So, it’s your call. I will say this… since I control the Sodpit Google Apps/Domain I can almost always recover your account. If it ever gets hacked I can change the password for you within a few hours time. It’s not like you have to contact Google Gmail support (impossible). I think you can disable it later if you want to.

So there you have it… 2-step verification is one more tool that you can use if you want to to help protect your account – but only if you want to.

Here are some helpful links:

Account / Security / Change Password (if you want to) / 2-step Verification (if you want to) / Application Specific Passwords

Thanks and I hope everyone out there is doing GREAT!!! 🙂