The web based accounts are facing all sorts of threats these days and people are increasingly relying on their online accounts to store sensitive information. Google has now added an additional layer of security to the users of Google accounts including mail and Google Docs to make it much harder to crack.
This additional layer works by providing a two-step authentication process. In addition to the regular password step that was previously being used, there is a second step which sends a code to your pre-registered mobile phone number. You need to enter this first code to the web application or the Google Authenticator mobile app that is already available for popular mobile devices such as iPhone, Android and BlackBerry to generate a second code.
The second code generated in the last step is needed to complete the account authentication process. However due to the extra hassle involved, this new feature might not be appreciated by all the users and it’s being offered as opt-in for now. Moreover, the two step procedure needs to be repeated only while logging in through a different browser, application or mobile device.
“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", says Nishit Shah, Product Manager Google Security.
You can follow the official guide for a step-by-step procedure to activate the 2-step authentication procedure for your account. Gmail's blog post explain more.
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