Google Is Making Your Account Vastly More Secure With Two-Step Authentication
From: The Ilana <>
Reply-to: The Ilana <>
When: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:33:11 -0600
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Google Is Making Your Account Vastly More Secure With Two-Step
Authentication
âTwo-factor authenticationâ may be the least sexy-sounding feature
Iâve ever written about. But if youâve ever worried about being
phished or having your password hacked, it could be your best friend
â because it makes it much, much harder for a hacker to break into
your account. Today, Google is announcing that itâs bringing the
security feature to its millions of users: the feature will be rolling
out first for Google Apps Premiere, Education, and Government edition
customers, with plans to bring it to all Google users (even those who
arenât using its Apps suite) in the next few months.
So what exactly is two-factor authentication? Most of the login
systems youâve probably used are only âone-factorâ â you enter
one password and youâre in, but if that password gets compromised,
youâre toast. More secure systems are common in large businesses, and
often require both a password and a physical card or dongle to login
â these are called âtwo-factorâ systems, because they require
both your password and another key, and are far more secure because a
hacker probably isnât going to have that physical token.
Unfortunately these security systems are generally quite expensive.
But Google is bringing one to the masses.
Googleâs system doesnât require a physical keycard. Instead, it
relies on your mobile phone. First, you need to activate the optional
feature from your settings page (again, this is only available to
certain Google Apps customers at first). Then, when you go to sign in
to your Google account, youâll first be asked to enter your password
as usual. Next, youâll be brought to a screen asking for a
verification code (see the screenshot above).
The verification code comes from your mobile phone, which youâve
previously linked up to your Google Account. Google has built a
âGoogle Authenticatorâ application for Android, the iPhone, and
Blackberry â fire up the application, and it will give you the six
digit verification code that you enter back into your browser (the
system can also send you a SMS message or give you the code via voice
call).
Thatâs it. The entire process only takes a minute or so, but itâs
much more secure because anyone wanting to access your account will
also need access to your mobile phone. You can opt to require this two-
factor authentication all the time, or you can elect to only require
it one time per computer (in other words, youâll only need to enter
it once on your home PC and/or work computer).
Like I said, this may not sound sexy, but itâs a big deal. Given how
much data users are storing on Google, and the fact that plenty of
people still fall prey to phishing scams on a regular basis, this is a
major step in helping keep users secure. This is all optional (unless
your Apps…
Sent from iPhone, sorry for the typos
