Account Security is a thorny issue for every online store, and ensuring that both customers and retailers take their responsibilities seriously hinges on pressure exerted by both parties. With that in mind Epic Games are introducing a new policy for Epic Games Store accounts taking advantage one of their most well received perks: the weekly free game(s). For the next few weeks - from April 28th until May 21st - customers who wish to claim one or more of the free titles must enable two-factor authentication (2FA) beforehand, thereby improving the security of their account.

Two factor authentication takes advantage of a basic principle in security: that to better protect user accounts, logins should be authenticated by two different 'facts' - something you know, and something you have. The 'something you know' is typically your username and password; something you have could be any physical object, but is most frequently a keyfob or your smartphone which generates a seeded pseudorandom number.

An FAQ on how to enable 2FA on your Epic Games Store account is available here, and really should be a process you engage with as a matter of course. There is no excuse for an online retailer or service provider to not offer similar, and setting it up on your phone through an app like Google Authenticator or SMS-based authentication is trivial.

Epic Games Store accounts support the following app-based authentication systems:



Note that, even though Epic will also send 2FA codes through the email address associated with your account, it is by far the weakest measure you can take and shouldn't be relied on. The Epic Games desktop app can also be configured to keep you logged in through system restarts after 2FA has been set up, but should still prompt you when making purchases or logging in on a new system.

The current EGS free title is turn-based strategy game For The King. This promotion will rotate to two new titles at 4pm UK time on Thursday.

SOURCE: EGS Support Centre