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How to properly protect your Outlook.com account

If you are using Microsoft's Outlook.com email service you have various options to connect to it. You can use the web interface, mobile apps or desktop email clients.

Regardless of how you use the service, you may want to make sure that it is properly protected against hacks and other malicious attacks.

Outlook.com accounts are directly linked to Microsoft Accounts. This shows when you try to locate security related settings on the Outlook website as you will notice quickly that there are none.

All security and the majority of privacy related features and settings are accessed on the Microsoft Account website instead.

You can use the link posted above to get there which is the fastest option to access it. The Security & Privacy overview page lists important preferences that allow you to modify these account-related settings.

microsoft security privacy

Lets take a look at the most important options on the page:

1. Change password

change password

Link: https://account.live.com/password/Change

It is highly recommended to select a secure password. There is no catch-all definition for secure though but generally speaking, the more characters the password has the better.

Microsoft's requirements are that the password needs to be at least 8 characters. If you want to improve security, I suggest you use at least twice the number using a mix of letters, numbers, upper and lower-case characters and special characters.

2. Monitor activity

microsoft account activity

Link: https://account.live.com/Activity

This page lists the last sign-ins on a single page. Information such as the location of the device the sign in was recorded from, date and time, IP address or platform are listed for each sign-in attempt regardless of whether it has been successful or not.

3. App permissions

app permissions

Link: https://account.live.com/consent/Manage

Here you find apps and services that you have given permissions to. This includes Windows apps and may also include Web services and mobile applications.

Each app and service is listed with its name and the data you last used it. A click on the edit button allows you to remove permissions again.

4. Advanced Security features

Link: https://account.live.com/proofs/Manage

You find additional, some would call it the most important - security settings and features on this page It lists all email addresses and phone numbers associated with the account, and offers options to remove them or add new ones.

security alerts

This is important for a number of reasons. First, you want to make sure that old accounts and numbers get removed immediately from the account as others may use them to gain access to your account.

Second, if you plan to enable two-step verification, you may need to add a phone number in case you have not already.

Last but not least, it is also possible to define alerts for each account and phone number. Microsoft will notify you if the company believes there is a problem with the account security-wise. Note that it is not possible to opt-out of receiving alerts for the primary account.

Sign-in preferences allow you to select the email addresses that you can sign-in with. While you cannot modify the preference for the main account, you can enable or disable all other accounts on this page.

Two-step verification on the other hand improves the login process by adding a second verifier to it. Instead of signing in just with the username and password, you are asked to supply a code that is sent to your email address or mobile phone. This is probably the best option to improve account security.

Identify verification apps can be used configured to generate that code locally.

App passwords come into play once you have configured two-step verification. Since some programs and devices don't support it, you need to create so-called app passwords for them that allow you to sign in without using the verification codes.

Recovery Code on the other hand comes in handy if you need to restore access to your account. It can be used for that purpose and should be kept in a safe location because of it.

Recommendations

This is a quick list of recommendations to secure your Outlook.com / Microsoft account.

  1. Pick a secure password that is at least 16 characters long and uses upper- and lower-case characters, numbers and special characters.
  2. Enable two-step verification for the account.
  3. Create a recovery code and safe it in a secure location.
  4. Review account activity and app permissions regularly.

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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