Automatic 2SV is paying off and looks set to continue
Last year, Google went all ham on account security, moving from just giving users the option to set up a two-step verification (2SV) method on their account, and starting to enroll them automatically. It looks like the exercise is paying off, as Google reveals that account breaches have decreased significantly since the introduction of 2SV by default.
Google announced that it has automatically enrolled approximately 150 million accounts in two-step verification (2SV) over the past few months and mandated about 2 million YouTube creators to do the same. This culminated in a 50% decrease in compromised accounts among those enrolled for 2SV, compared to password-only users. The company’s still interested in automatically pushing the security feature to even more accounts, although it hasn’t shared a firm timeline for the that rollout.
With cybersecurity threats always growing, the importance of two-factor verification cannot be over-emphasized. That’s probably more true for your Google account than anything else you use, as it’s likely connected to so many other platforms — banking, social media, and shopping apps — containing sensitive information and controlling access to password resets.
Google knows 2FA can be a small hassle, and is working on other ways to improve the safety of its users, like looking into technologies that will replace passwords while providing secure and seamless sign-in experiences. For instance, there are always hardware security keys for users amenable to carrying one around.
The decreased volume of account breaches after enabling this extra security isn’t much of a surprise, though. Two-factor-secured accounts require significantly more effort to crack and can deter potential intruders. If you haven’t yet already, set up your Google account recovery information (add a phone number and backup email), turn on 2SV, and take advantage of a password manager to save you from trying to remember passwords, or worse, driving you to reuse them.
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