Google announces a 50% reduction in account hijacking due to the activation of two-factor authentication by default.

Google announces a 50 percent reduction in account hijackings after enabling two-factor authentication by default.

Google has long offered users the option to enable two-factor authentication on their account, but in 2021, the American giant announced that it would enable the feature by default. And it turns out that this was a very successful decision for the Mountain View company and its users. Indeed, this change would result in a 50% reduction in account breaches.

Google announces 50% reduction in account hacks

According to a recent statement from Google: “We provide easy-to-use tools, such as Security Review, to provide actionable recommendations to improve the security of your Google account. In 2021, we automatically migrated over 150 million accounts to two-factor authentication. We are seeing a 50% reduction in account compromise as a result of this initiative.”

after activating two-factor authentication by default

For those who don’t know, two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security to a simple password. Every time you try to log in, another one-time code is sent to your smartphone via SMS or a special application like an authenticator. This means that if a hacker somehow got hold of your credentials, he will not be able to access your account, unless of course he also has access to the 2FA code.

As such, it’s an extra step in the connection process, which can be annoying every day, but greatly enhances the security of your account. This system is also not infallible, it is always possible to hack into your account, but with this extra layer it is much more difficult for would-be hackers to get their hands on your account. More generally, if a particular service supports two-factor authentication, it would be a good idea to enable it.