Google Dismisses Authenticator, Introduces Physical Security Key In Advanced Protection

Google Authenticator, one of the most used protective program seems not to be as secured as we thought, as lots of journalist, political leaders, leaders, members of political campaign teams are at a higher risk of being targeted by hackers and rolling out a new program to help secure their accounts was the best possible alternative the company could come up with to ensure a more secure account for its users.

Google wrote in a blog post earlier this week explaining how the new verification program works, which reads “To provide the strongest defence against phishing, Advanced Protection goes beyond traditional 2-Step Verification. You will need to sign into your account with a password and a physical Security Key,”

Other authentication factors, like codes sent via SMS or the Google Authenticator app, will no longer work. “This will replace and disable other forms of authentication like SMS and the Google Authenticator app,” the post added.

This advanced programme which includes a physical “Security Key” that replaces other forms of two-factor authentication (2FA), will be automatically limited to third party Apps from accessing important and confidential data on user’s emails or Google drive.

Also added in the blog post is that “Third-party apps that want access to email or Drive will no longer have permission. For more secure access, you will need to use the Gmail app or Inbox by Gmail,” and in order for you to able to access your sign in services from Gmail or photos, you have use google chrome.

Apple devices with mail, calendar, contacts Apps will not be able to use the new advanced security keys nor have access to the users Google data, however, users can download Google Mail (Gmail), calendar or even photos on their iOS devices for a more secure and authentic data protective measure.

If you ever lose access to your account and both of your Security Keys, the added verification requirements will take a few days to restore access to your account,” according to Google.

Hackers gain access to user’s account by impersonating they are the user and asking for access in a pretencious manner that their account has been locked out but with the new Advanced Protection Program it will provide users with a very strong secure safeguarding system against all types of suspicious and fraudulent account access because the company has added extra steps in verification of account users in order to help secure their accounts.