Google claims 2SV activation led to 50% drop in accounts being hacked

Google celebrated Safer Internet Day with several announcements.

Since it started auto-enrolling 150 million users in two-step verification (2SV) at the end of last year, Google claims to have seen a 50% decrease in accounts being compromised! With 2SV enabled, users have to confirm their login on a separate device or via its Authenticator app.

The company announced that it is partnering with Khan Academy to develop free, online lessons to educate people on staying safe online. This partnership will include a $5 million contribution by Google for Khan Academy to create actionable online safety content for its 18 million monthly users around the world.

To offer better protection for high-risk users such as election workers, journalists and human right workers, Google will work with organisations to establish the Campaign Security Project to provide tools and train candidates on how to stay safe online.

Available from next month, Google will let users opt in to its account-level enhanced safe browsing feature. This will offer the broadest security protection against online threats.

Source: Google