The system works with common authenticator apps and via SMS

Sep 4, 2013 08:05 GMT  ·  By

Two-factor authentication, which requires an authentication code along with your password, isn’t the norm just yet, but it's becoming increasingly popular, which is only a good thing. The latest to enable the feature is GitHub, which is now making it available to all users.

Enabling the feature is simple, just go to your Account Settings and you'll notice the "Two-factor authentication" section.

On GitHub, 2FA works either via SMS or via one of the several authenticator apps supported, a set of fairly standard options at this point.

GitHub uses the Time-based One-Time Password protocol, which means you have quite a few options for authenticator apps.

Supported apps are the Google Authenticator, available for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry, Due Mobile for iOS and Android, and Authenticator for Windows Phone. Users will also be able to generate "personal access tokens" for apps that need to connect to GitHub but don't support 2FA.