Security experts are commending Apple for following the lead of rivals like Facebook, Google and Microsoft by offering two-step authentication to help customers secure their Apple IDs against hacking.

The new feature rolled out this week is designed to block unauthorized changes to iCloud or iTunes accounts, and keep hackers who steal Apple IDs from purchasing digital content or hardware using the credit cards stored in customers’ iTunes and Apple Store accounts.

iTunes users in particular have complained for years about security so lax that hackers have easily hijacked their accounts to run up big bills.

“Always exciting to see a major consumer-oriented service roll out some sort of two-factor authentication,” said Jon Oberheide, co-founder and CTO of Duo Security, a developer of authentication software, in an email. “Rolling your own two-factor definitely isn’t a trivial task, both from an upfront engineering cost and continued support and maintenance, despite the perceived ease from an external view.”

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