Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Google launches two factor authentication

Gather Knowledge from My SEO Guru's Blog: Matt Cutts

Google launched few days ago two-factor authentication, and I believe you should enable it with a Google account / Gmail.

Two-factor authentication (also known as 2-step verification) relies on incredible you know like a password and something you have like a cell phone. Crackers have a harder time getting into your account, because even if they figure out your password, they still only have half of what they need. Matt Cutts wrote about two-factor authentication when Google rolled it out for Google Apps users back in September, and I’m a huge fan.

Account hijacking is no joke. keep in mind the Gawker password incident? If you used the same password on Gawker properties and Gmail, two-factor authentication would provide you with more security. I’ve also had two connections get their Gmail account hijacked when someone guessed their password. I’ve also seen plenty of incidents like this where two-factor authentication would have kept hackers out. If someone hacked your Gmail account, think of all the other passwords they could get access to, including your domain name or webhost accounts / Bank Details / Online fund transfer details.

Is it a little bit of extra work? Yes. But two-step verification directly provides you with a much higher level of security. I use it on my personal Gmail account, and you should too. Please, protect yourself now and enable two-factor authentication.