{"id":57030,"date":"2013-12-10T01:59:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T23:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=57030"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:59:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:59:15","slug":"microsoft-strengthens-security-for-outlook-and-microsoft-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/microsoft-strengthens-security-for-outlook-and-microsoft-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft strengthens security for Outlook and Microsoft accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the next couple of days, Microsoft will be rolling out updated security measures for <a title=\"Hands on preview: Hotmail.com turns into Outlook.com\" href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/hands-on-preview-hotmail-com-turns-into-outlook-com\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Outlook.com<\/a> and <a title=\"Microsoft rolls out two-step verification\" href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/microsoft-rolls-out-two-step-verification\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft accounts<\/a>. The company already has two-step verification for its accounts but now it plans on adding additional layers of security including recent activity monitoring, recovery codes, and updated security notifications.<\/p>\n<p>Recent activity monitoring will show you log-in attempts and locations of those attempts to make sure you&#8217;re the only one accessing your account. Activity for your account shows what type of security was used, when the attempt was made, and where. Microsoft even includes a <a title=\"Bing news\" href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/b\/bing\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bing<\/a> map of locations so you know exactly where the activity happened.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-57038\" title=\"Microsoft activity monitoring\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-activity-monitoring-568x471.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft activity monitoring\" width=\"568\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-activity-monitoring-568x471.jpg 568w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-activity-monitoring-256x212.jpg 256w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-activity-monitoring.jpg 840w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Recovery codes work in conjunction with two-step verification as a back up in case you lose access to your second method of verification. For example, if you lose your phone, you can still access your account using the provided security codes. Make sure to keep them in a safe place like an <a title=\"Encryption software\" href=\"http:\/\/en.softonic.com\/windows\/encryption-software\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">encrypted<\/a> folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-57039\" title=\"Microsoft recovery codes\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-568x320.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft recovery codes\" width=\"568\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-568x320.jpg 568w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-256x144.jpg 256w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-664x374.jpg 664w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes-238x134.jpg 238w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/Microsoft-recovery-codes.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Lastly, users will be able to toggle which emails or phone numbers they want to be used for security notifications.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about web security and how you can secure your online accounts, check out our guide on <a title=\"What is two-step verification?\" href=\"http:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/what-is-two-step-verification\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two-step verification<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/have-i-been-pwned-tells-you-if-your-email-details-have-been-stolen\">Have I been Pwned? tells you if your email details have been stolen<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/over-2-million-passwords-stolen-in-malware-attack\">Over 2 million passwords stolen in malware attack<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/exclusive-download-advanced-systemcare-ultimate\">Exclusive: Download Advanced SystemCare Ultimate<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/h4>\n<p>Source: <a title=\"New security features added to Microsoft accounts\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.technet.com\/b\/microsoft_blog\/archive\/2013\/12\/09\/new-security-features-added-to-microsoft-accounts.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Official Microsoft Blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the next couple of days, Microsoft will be rolling out updated security measures for Outlook.com and Microsoft accounts. The company already has two-step verification for its accounts but now it plans on adding additional layers of security including recent activity monitoring, recovery codes, and updated security notifications. Recent activity monitoring will show you log-in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/microsoft-strengthens-security-for-outlook-and-microsoft-accounts\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Microsoft strengthens security for Outlook and Microsoft accounts&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":57038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-57030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331674,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57030\/revisions\/331674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57030"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=57030"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=57030"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=57030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}