Google is going to enable two-factor authentication by default for millions of users
In May, Google announced plans to enable 2FA two-factor authentication (or two-step verification, as it's also known) by default to improve security for many accounts. Now Google is reminiscing about the plan again, announcing on its blog that the company will enable two-factor authentication for 150 million more accounts by the end of this year.
In 2018, Google said that only 10 percent of its active accounts were using two-factor authentication. Since then, the company has been actively pushing people to enable this setting. Another part of the effort will require more than 2 million YouTube creators to enable two-factor authentication to protect their channels from hijacking.
Google claims to partner with organizations to distribute more than 10,000 hardware security keys each year. The promotion of two-factor authentication has made the technology readily available on smartphones, whether Android or iPhone is used.
Last but not least, Google is turning its attention to the Inactive Account Manager. This is a set of decisions about what happens to your account if you decide to stop using it or you're no longer around and can't make those decisions.
Google's blog post notes that an inactive account led to a massive Colonial Pipeline attack earlier this year, and for security reasons, you probably don't want your digital life to be left unattended in case you die or become incapacitated.
