Source: nakedsecurity
With our archives full to bursting with stories of hijacked social media accounts, it’s a very good idea to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) on all the platforms you use. 2FA combines your password with something else – a text message to your phone, a code generated by an authenticator app, or a physical key.
Although Instagram is part of Facebook, and Facebook supports several 2FA methods, the 2FA setup process isn’t exactly the same as it is for Facebook, so if you need a bit of help on how to get two-factor authentication on your Instagram account, we’ve outlined the steps in detail below.
While you can browse Instagram and use some Instagram features from a web browser, it’s really meant to be accessed within the Instagram app. To follow the steps below, you’ll need to be logged into the Instagram app on your smartphone or tablet.
- Go to your Profile by tapping the person icon in the bottom right of the app.
- Open the “hamburger” menu in the top right of the screen. Tap Settings at the very bottom of that menu.
- Scroll down to the Privacy and security section and open it up.
- Under the Security section you’ll find the Two-factor authentication option.
- Instagram will now show you a screen with a basic introduction to 2FA and the methods they support: Text message-based 2FA and app-based. Again, since Instagram is primarily app-based, authentication methods that play nicely with smartphones are what Instagram supports. (USB key-based 2FA devices like a Yubikey wouldn’t work in a mobile context.)
- On the next screen, you can choose the method(s) you’d like to use for two-factor authentication. While you can choose to enable both Text message and Authentication app-based 2FA, it may make things needlessly complicated for you – unless you’re confident you need both options at once, it’s best to stick with just one of these methods.
