Over a half-million users sign into Slack every day at work from their iPhones, iPads, Macs, or those “other platforms.” It’s a very popular and new collaboration tool for teams; we use it here at Apple World Today, and I actually communicate with another team through the app. Well, today the commpany announced that there was “unauthorized access to a Slack database containing user profile information,” and recommends that users change their passwords and enable Two-Factor Authentication as well.
Two-Factor Authentication is simple — whenever you sign into Slack in the future, you’ll enter your user email and password as usual, but you’ll also be asked for a six-digit code that is generated by either the Google Authenticator or Duo Mobile app. Users of the Slack iOS app on iPad might want to grab the latter app, as it’s universal.
From the email sent by Slack to all users today:
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“However, we have also just released Two Factor Authentication (“2FA”; also known as “two step verification”) and we strongly recommend that all users enable this feature, which provides an additional layer of security for their account. Additional details are available in our help center and you can enable 2FA directly on your account settings page.”
The help center page is here. Following the instructions, it took only about two minutes to set up 2FA. It’s really a good idea to set this up if you’re a Slack user, particularly since the service has a number of integrations with other services such as Desk.com, Dropbox, Google Drive, JIRA, MailChimp, Stripe, Trello, and Zendesk.
Before you leave the office for the weekend — or if you’re working this weekend — spend a few minutes to set up 2FA on your Slack account. Stay safe out there!
