Google is planning to upgrade its account security with physical USB security key. Google named it Advanced Protection Program, although there isn’t official announcement regarding this program.
According to Bloomberg report , Alphabet Inc. (Google’s parent company) soon start offering this product to corporate executives, politicians and others with heightened security concerns. Google took the decision to protect its users from cyberattacks and politically motivated hacks.
Google Advanced Protection Program
The Advanced Protection Program has various security features like blocking third-party apps to access emails or data saved in Google Drive. The program will be updated with new features to protect user data on an on-going basis.
Google has released USB security key in 2014 to improve protection for two-factor authentication. As the name suggest, two-factor authentication requires second code or password which will generated while logging into account.
USB security key adds extra layer of security to Google Account, which is gateway of Google’s all services. After proper configuration, one can not login into account without USB security key. To protect against fake site which pretend to be Google site, physical USB security key become the second factor that only works after verifying the login site is truly a Google website.
USB security key works in effective way that one doesn’t need to type a code, just insert it into USB port and click/tap when asked. This double factor security make sure that the cryptographic signature cannot be phished.
In past, just like the image showed above, Google warned their users if their Google accounts are being targeted by government-backed attackers. Google also cleared that:
The notice does not necessarily mean that the account has been compromised or that there is a widespread attack. Rather, the notice reflects our assessment that a government-backed attacker has likely attempted to access the user’s account or computer through phishing or malware, for example.
