Internet giant Google has introduced a new layer of security for its users, with the company now adding a two-step verification process.
The first step involved is just a regular password, and the second will involve a code that is sent to a mobile number. This can be sent through a text message or an automated call.
If you already have a Google account, then the system is only opt-in. The two-step verification only comes into play when you’re logging in through a new browser, including on a mobile device.
Google security product manager Nishit Shah wrote on the official Google Blog that it can be easy for hackers to access multiple elements of a person’s everyday life once they learn just even one password.
“Your Gmail account, your photos, your private documents—if you reuse the same password on multiple sites and one of those sites gets hacked, or your password is conned out of you directly through a phishing scam, it can be used to access some of your most closely-held information.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
