Google Cloud will make multi-factor authentication mandatory in 2025

The traditional username and password system has been used for decades, and for the most part it works. Is it the most secure? Hardly. This is why new methods of authenticating users have been introduced over the years. Now Google is looking to make multi-factor authentication mandatory for Google Cloud users starting in 2025.

According to the announcement in a blog post, Mayank Upadhyay, the Vice President of Engineering at Google Cloud, revealed that starting in 2025, all Google Cloud users will have to use multi-factor authentication. This will apply specifically to users who are still currently relying on passwords to login.

Google revealed that right now, about 70% of all users rely on multi-factor authentication already. So this change will mostly affect the remaining 30%. Google will start encouraging users to enable the feature starting this month, and it will only become mandatory starting in early 2025.

For those unfamiliar, multi-factor authentication involves users relying on more than just their password to login. Depending on the platform, sometimes this might involve the use of an OTP sent to their phone via a text message or an app like Google Authenticator. Sometimes it might involve scanning a QR code with an authorized device like a phone. It is more secure in the sense that even if someone guessed your password, they still wouldn’t be able to log into your account.