Once you have set up two-step authentication with Dropbox, then every time you log into Dropbox with a web browser or authorize a new computer or service to use Dropbox, you will be prompted to enter a special six digit code. I will continue to use the term “two-step authentication” because I will need to make use of the more technical term, “authentication”, further on. I will be describing how things may superficially appear to users, not how it really works.ĭropbox calls their system “two-step verification”, and that is an excellent name for communicating what it does. What this means, however, is that a great deal of what I say in describing the system below is a pack of lies. There are also some really cool things about how the protocols for two-factor authentication work, but I will bite my tongue and leave that discussion for another day. But it will be easier to do so after I’ve outlined how it works. I will return to scaring 1Password users away from jumping on Dropbox’s beta two-step authentication system later in this article. If you would like to know more about the two-step authentication system Dropbox has just rolled out and why I am recommending a “wait-and-see” approach at this point, read on. But for the large majority of 1Password users, it’s just a little early to start using their two-step authentication system. It looks (from my brief exploration) like it is done extremely well. My recommendation does not reflect any criticism of Dropbox’s experimental system.

be very comfortable using pre-release systems.

take steps to reduce those risks (have great backups), and.understand the data security gains and risks thoroughly (discussed below).The bottom line is that I recommend 1Password users not be early adopters of this. So anything that has to do with Dropbox security is of interest to us and to 1Password users. 1Password 3 (Mac and iOS) and 1Password for Windows use Dropbox for synchronizing your 1Password data across systems and platforms. Dropbox has just released a new, optional, two-step authentication process.

1password 8 dropbox