The Epic Games Store has taken steps to force customers to use two-factor authentication when purchasing free games. The move came into play on April 28 and will run through till May 21. Epic Games stated, “We are making these changes in an effort to encourage our players to take steps to strengthen their Epic account security.”
Two-Factor Authentication is a method of securing account access through an additional challenge during the login process to a website. Already found in use by financial and government services, it is becoming increasingly common to find it on web sites and on-line stores. The implementation can vary, with the most common challenge of asking the user to enter a code after entering a valid username and password. This code is usually sent to a validated email address or phone already on the users account.
Whether this drive will be extended past May 21 is anybody’s guess, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a permanent fixture. Anything that companies can do to secure accounts is a good thing. More and more games are purchased digitally than ever before and it has become an easy target for criminals. Gaining access to an account and purchasing gift copies that they can resell on is big business.
Publisher Activision Blizzard pioneered the use of two-factor authentication in an effort to stop World of Warcraft accounts from being stolen and resold. Early implementations required a dongle or Authenticator app linked to an account to generate codes. While this did impact hacker’s abilities it did not eradicate it. It will be interesting to see how this move affects The Epic Games Store. Will other publishers follow suit and is there more that can be done to make our accounts more secure?
