GA - Google's New Two-Factor Authentication Application

The two-factor authentication is something that in a way protects your phone from becoming a victim of external interference like phishing or hijacking among other things. Google too recently made an announcement about two-factor authentication. This does not come as a surprise because almost every gadget you lay hands on these days, especially your smart phones and other online accounts under your possession, needs to be authenticated for secure usage. Take the case of your smart phones, especially the ones which might have come to you from abroad. Not easy to break their code, is it?

Google has a Google Authenticator application that is functional on Andriod, iPhones and other smart phones. What this application does is enable authentication on these platforms either by sending out SMS's or giving one-time or single-use codes.

Key features of this new announcement are as follows:-

• The two-factor authentication will be featured in all the Gmail accounts in the coming future.

• The authentication will last for 30 days and can be used through the cookies of particular browser that you work with. This will drastically cut down on the annoying messages that you receive from time to time asking for authentications in the form of a login message on your laptops/computers.

• More happy news for developers is that two-factor authentication application has been open-sourced by Google. Rejoice Developers! More and more people could use the mentioned application and build on it as the application has been stated to use RCF 4336. This makes it easier for developers to work on the platform and customize it according to need.

• What's more, the application can be used even without handing out your phone numbers. That might give a sigh of relief to the users who are constantly paranoid about Google invading their privacy through every means possible. So should we be considering this as just one of those instances where Google decided to not act on "knowing more about its customers"

Hijacking of accounts has for a very long time plagued online users. Phishing on the other hand is an even serious problem that was waiting to be addressed. With Google's two-way authentication, not only does it provide an extra layer of protection over you existing passwords, but also gives a sense of relief to the users.

At least some good news in the present tumultuous environment of safety breaches and personal information hijacking.

Source: Ezine

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites