Google has decreased compromised accounts by 50% thanks to auto-enabled 2SV

Last year, Google announced that it would be automatically enabling two-factor authentication for its users, something that we strongly recommend doing if it’s not already enabled on your accounts. This was part of Google’s World Password Day push to provide as much security to your Google account as possible.

Today, Google has confirmed that the decision to bring 2FA to more users has resulted in “a 50% decrease in accounts being compromised” for more than 150 million users and more than 2 million YouTube creators.

This decrease speaks volumes to how effective having a second form of verification can be in protecting your data and personal information. And while we’re proud of these initial results, and happy with the response we have received from our users and the community, we’re excited about other ongoing work we’re doing behind the scenes to make our users even safer.

In today’s blog post, Google also detailed the different methods that you can use in order to keep your account secure. These include the ability to use physical security keys, such as the Titan Security Key, along with heading over to the Security Checkup portion of your Google account. Even those on iOS can take advantage of Google’s services while keeping their accounts secure thanks to the Google Smart Lock app on the Apple App Store.

Another method that we strongly recommend using is to utilize an app or service to house and create new (and secure) passwords. Google Password Manager is already available on all of your devices and all of your information is already tied to your Google account, meaning that it will automatically sync any changes while recommending that you change your password when necessary.

• How to set up a password manager

No matter whether you use a third-party password manager or just rely on Google, it’s still highly recommended to perform a security checkup on a regular basis. This will let you know if there are additional steps that you can take in order to keep your accounts secure, along with changing any passwords that may have been compromised recently. Seriously, keep your accounts as secure as possible and don’t re-use the same passwords for different accounts.