As the leaking of private photos stolen from several celebrities proves, we all need to be more careful than ever to protect our data on the Internet. You might think that this sort of thing only happens to celebrities, and the rest of us need not worry, but think about all the data that's there in just your email account. Social networks are our public face, and email holds our financial data and more.

A strong password is a good first step, but setting up two-factor authentication adds another layer between other people and your data. If you do this, then access to your account is restricted only to people who have your password - and also access to the second level of authentication, which can take the form of a text message, an email, or even a paired app on your smartphone.

(Also see:How to Prevent Theft of Photos From Your iCloud Account)

Some services offer all three modes of verification - others rely on one or the other method. Regardless, once your authenticator is set up, trying to log into your account results in a code being sent by the chosen method, and without this code, the account won't be accessed.

Gmail

Your Google account is probably the one you want to secure first. Not only is your email account a repository of all sorts of important information, but also, since our email ids are the default way to sign into Web services today, your Gmail account can also serve as a gateway to all your other accounts. To set up two-factor authentication, you need to take the following steps:

1. Go to Google Account Security and under Password, look for 2-step Verification.

2. Click setup. On the next page, click Start Set Up.

3. At the next page, sign in. In the box, enter your phone number.

4. Choose the mode by which you will receive the code > click Send code.

5. A six-digit code will arrive on your phone via text message or by a call. Enter the code on the website and click Verify > Next > Confirm.

Next, Google will ask you to reconnect all your apps and devices. If you've configured apps to access your Google account on any device, you will have to create a separate app password for each and sign in again. To do this, click Configure when Google prompts you to. Now select the app (click Other if it isn't mentioned) and device from drop-down menus and click Generate. Each code password you generate will only work for one app.

Source:NDTV