Each of your online accounts supports different ways for you to sign-in and verify your identity. As a general goal for each account, especially the important accounts tied to identity that store payment methods and other personal information, you should configure multiple methods to sign-in and verify when possible and try to use the most secure and convenient of those methods when possible. The most secure ways to sign-in and verify your identity are all forms of multifactor authentication (MFA), sometimes called two-factor authentication (2FA) or two-step authentication. The most convenient forms of MFA are those that provide passwordless capabilities. And of those, the two best methods are passkeys and authenticator apps. An authenticator app is an app you install on your phone and/or other mobile devices (and, in some cases, computers) that provides an additional layer of verification, or factor, to your online accounts. As with other MFA solutions, this prevents hackers or other malicious actors from getting into an account that has been compromised, even if they have your username and password. You manage the passwords (really, usernames and password combinations) and passkeys for your online accounts with a password manager. In a similar fashion, you use an authenticator app to manage second-factor verifications for your online accounts. The two work together, with the password manager providing the initial sign-in credentials and the authenticator app handling the additional verification that proves you are you, letting you into the account. ✅ Tip: I will be writing about password managers soon, but you can reference Password Management Basics (Premium), an earlier post, if you need more information now. Authenticator apps work by creating a connection, or secret key, between an online account in the cloud and the app on your device. Most authenticator apps create dynamic time-based one-time passwords (OTPs) (or codes) that refresh every 30 seconds. When you attempt to sign-in to an online account on your computer, you will be prompted to enter a code from that app. So you will authenticate yourself on the phone (and/or the app itself), locate the code for that account, and then type it in on the computer. ✅ Tip: I wrote "most" above because Microsoft accounts (MSA) support a different form of 2FA that's even more convenient, but you have to use a Microsoft app for that. This is described later in the article. Keep your password manager and authenticator app separate Though some password managers offer authenticator app capabilities too, you should use separate password manager and authenticator app solutions. This is not about a single point of failure. It's because the core security principle behind MFA is having separate "something you know" (e.g. a password) and "something you have" (e.g. a device) factors. When you sign in to an account on your PC, the password manager is on the PC (an app or a browser... The post 2026 Security Checkup: Authenticator App ⭐ appeared first on Thurrott.com.

New patches fix critical JavaScript and XML issues, finally allowing Linux users to install professional Adobe tools through the Wine ecosystem.