---
title: "Security"
description: "Protect your books with two-factor authentication, step-up codes for approvals, session and device controls, and what to do if something looks wrong."
url: "https://bareledger.app/guides/security"
category: "Team, roles & approvals"
updated: "2026-10-29"
publisher: "BareLedger (Syneria Technologies OPC)"
---

# Security

> Two-factor authentication, step-up codes, sessions and devices, and what to do if something looks wrong.

A plain guide to keeping your account and your company's data safe. For the technical details behind the scenes, see the separate developer-facing [Security](https://bareledger.app/guides/security) reference.

## Keeping your own account safe

- **Use a strong, unique password** — set or change it from [User Profile](https://bareledger.app/guides/profile) → Change Password.
- **Turn on the extra 6-digit security code (two-factor authentication)** — see [Login and Authentication](https://bareledger.app/guides/login-authentication) for how to set it up. Save your backup codes somewhere safe; they're only shown to you once.
- **Check your active sessions now and then** — [User Profile](https://bareledger.app/guides/profile) → Sessions shows every device currently signed in, and lets you sign out any you don't recognize.
- **Glance at your recent sign-in history** — your last 20 login attempts are listed in your profile; unfamiliar failed attempts are worth looking into.

## Company-wide security settings (administrators)

An administrator can require everyone to enter a fresh 6-digit code before **reviewing**, **approving**, or **reversing a posted entry** — even if they're already logged in. (The reversal requirement also covers completing or reopening a bank reconciliation.) These are three separate switches in [Settings](https://bareledger.app/guides/settings) — review, approval, and reversals — and all three are turned on by default for new organizations.

## Security alerts

You'll automatically get notified (usually by email too) whenever the extra security code is turned on or off for your account, or a new way of signing in gets linked to it. See [Notifications](https://bareledger.app/guides/notifications).

## If you lose access to your account

- **Forgot your password?** Use the "Forgot password" link on the login page — see [Login and Authentication](https://bareledger.app/guides/login-authentication).
- **Lost your authenticator app and your backup codes?** There's no way to recover this yourself — reach out to an administrator on your team for help.

## A few things worth knowing

- Bank account numbers are stored encrypted and can only be viewed by people specifically given permission to reveal them — usually just administrators.
- Every important action — like changing permissions or posting a transaction — is permanently recorded in an activity log that can't be edited or deleted afterward, not even by an administrator.