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Less than 10% of Google account owners are using two-factor authentication

Online security is an increasingly big deal in our day-to-day lives, and there are two easy methods of keeping our data secure. First, a strong password, and secondly, two-factor authentication. If used properly, these can do wonders for keeping your online data safe, but so few actually use them as they should…

Looking at passwords first, we already know that quite a lot of people simply don’t use strong passwords. The evidence is plain and simple — a couple of the most used passwords of 2017 were still “password” and “123456.”

However, you can still have a fairly secure account by using two-factor authentication. This is done in a number of ways, whether through SMS or an app, and barely adds any time to a sign-in process. However, it seems most people just don’t want to use it.

Recently, a Google software engineer took the floor at Usenix’s Enigma 2018 security conference (via The Register) and revealed a very interesting statistic. Apparently, the number of Google account owners who have activated 2FA is under 10%.

Google has offered 2FA for a number of years now, and it’s available through SMS, phone calls, apps like Google Authenticator, and even the recent addition of “Prompt.” Yet, despite all of that, people just aren’t signing up for the extra security.

Responding to the question of why Google doesn’t just force 2FA on its users, software engineer Grzegorz Milka stated that it would drive some people away from Google’s services.

If you aren’t signed up for 2FA on your Google account, please do so, it’s in your best interest…


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