Security matters, especially when it concerns a lot of people. The social media Pinterest acknowledges this as it introduces features aimed at protecting users' accounts.
The most important is the rollout of the two-factor authentication for all users. Using the feature, users can receive codes via text messages or through authentication app like Authy.
Users can enable the security option by navigating to their account's Settings after the feature is available for them.
Another feature aimed to protect users, is available in the Security section. What it does, is listing all the devices that users have logged Pinterest into. This way, if users see an unknown device, they can remove it directly from the page.
Finally, the service is also emailing users when they log in from a new device or location.
According to Pinterest's security engineer Emanuele Cesena in a blog post:
In that same security section, you’ll also find a list of all devices logged in to your account. If you see a device you don’t recognize—or a date, time or location that seems fishy—you can quickly remove it.
If we see a login from a new device or location, we’ll send you an email to give you a heads up. If it was you, you’re all set. If it wasn’t, you can quickly reset your password to secure your account.
We don’t mess around when it comes to security, and this is just a small slice of what we do to protect your account. We’ll keep working to make your Pinterest experience the safest it can be."
More and more services have been adding two-factor security over the past few years. Most major online services support it. That includes Facebook, Instagram, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Google.
It's surprising that it took Pinterest a while to enable the security option when almost everyone in the social media business have done it.
However, with more accounts people have nowadays, people tend to stick to the most notable that provide sign in setup for multiple site - such as Google or Facebook. But it's still nice to see that more social media networks are taking security more seriously.
While two-factor authentication certainly adds a bit more work to do when signing in, but it provides another layer of security to protect accounts. Two-factor authentication is seen as an advantage for online services that thrive on the amount of users they have.