PSA: Two-Factor Authentication is Important

Among all the Epic Store complaints I'm noticing the same story from a lot of people. They or their friend(s) having regular breaches or attempted breaches on their Epic account. As a software developer and IT person, I'd like to take the opportunity to remind everyone that you should be using Two-Factor Authentication whenever it is offered. Not just for your Epic account, but any account you'd rather not be hacked.

I agree it's annoying, but having a secure password is not going to cut it anymore. Replacing A's with @'s is not fooling anyone.

Two-Factor Authentication works by adding an extra step when logging into an account. It will ask you to enter an extra code that comes from another source. There are several places this code can come from. The most common options are email, text, and a 3rd party authentication app that lives on your phone. The 3rd party app is the most secure of those options as it is tied to your physical device and not to your email or phone number (which can be accessed remotely by someone who really wants to hack an account). This means you need to unregister that device when switching phones.

Also keep in mind that you will not need to do this process every time you open a launcher on your PC. Most desktop apps will register your PC as a trusted device for a period of time and will not require Two-Factor while that device is still trusted. Also when registering a 3rd party authenticator, make sure you save the codes it goes you in case you loose your phone. It's a real pain to unlink an account with out them. Last time I checked, Blizzard required a copy of a driver's license to remove Two-Factor for you.

Fortnight is among the most popular games in the world and hackers can make real money if they can get the items in an account. So for them, it's worth trying hack any Epic account to see if it has something they want. World of Warcraft has the same issue and was one of the first games to include Two-Factor in an attempt to lower the number of hacked accounts they had to restore.

I'd like to again stress that Two-Factor is something you should automatically be doing whenever available. Especially if your credit card is involved.