What you need to know
- Google has expanded its Project Shield service to protect the websites of more than 200 Ukrainian government entities, news outlets, and more.
- Phishing protection from Gmail has been expanded to Goole Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
- Google has expanded account protection with passwordless login with 2-Step Verification and auto-enrollment.
Security is a major concern for anyone online and at Google I/O 2022, Google has unveiled how it's making using the web safer for everyone. The company is doing this by making its products more secure by default and even expanding protection for those that need it in Ukraine.
To start out, Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been working to combat current and emerging cyber threats. The group has been tracking cyber activity to help inform Ukraine, neighboring European countries, and others of active threat campaigns in relation to the war. Google has also expanded its Project Shield program to protect the websites of more than 200 Ukrainian government entities, news outlets, and more.
These protections also extend to people outside the war zone with a majority of Americans concerned about the safety and privacy of their online data. One way Google is tackling this issue is by adding account safety status to apps by putting a yellow alert over the profile picture of the Google account. This will prompt users to set up recommended security such as 2-Step Verifications and help them feel secure using their devices.
Google is also ramping up automatic enrollment for 2-Step Verification and last year the company enrolled over 150 million accounts in 2-Step Verification. This helps the company work towards a more secure passwordless future that helps protect people from phishing attempts.
Speaking of phishing protection, Google is expanding its phishing and malware protection from Gmail to Google Workspace including Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This will be able to keep you safe even if someone adds an unsafe link to your shared Google Doc.
Finally, Google is making shopping online safer with virtual cards coming to Chrome and Android. This will allows users on both the best Chromebooks and best Android phones to buy online without entering their credit card information on an untrusted site. With autofill, using a virtual card is quick and easy. Beyond that, cards can be managed at pay.google.com. Virtual cards will be available for Visa, American Express, and Capital One this summer and for Mastercard later this year.
