Recovery codes, recent activity and other new security features come to Microsoft accounts

Security is important to everyone who uses the internet and Microsoft is bringing a raft of new features to protect online accounts. Microsoft accounts will soon be gaining three keys new feature — recent activity, recovery code and additional security notifications. Anything that helps to keep personal data protected is to be welcomed, and this is the aim of the new measures.

The recent activity logs are similar to those already found in Google and Facebook account and will enable users to check what has been going on in their account. When trying to monitor suspicious activity, this is a valuable tool in trying to determine what has been going on. You can browse through your activity logs at any time and report activity that does not tally up with your own usage.

Recovery codes only come into play when you forget your password having set up two-step verification. It is not something you will make use of very often — hopefully, you will never have to use it — but it does add a helpful safety net in case you need it. You can use the recovery code to regain access to your account and get yourself back up and running.

The final new addition is greater control over security notifications. You can now choose which email address and phone numbers should be used to let you know about security issues with your account, so you can be told about things in as many or as few places as you deem necessary.

Eric Doerr, Group Program Manager, Microsoft Account described the new features as “coming soon”, although there is no word on what the precise schedule is — just some time over the next couple of days. Have you seen these arriving in your accounts yet?