It's all to do with layering your defenses, and Google provides an automatic proactive layer for every user. Even the more sophisticated use of targeted attacks were thwarted 90% of the time by this simple tactic. The new research revealed that by adding a recovery phone number to your account, 100% of automated bots and 99% of bulk phishing attacks can be stopped dead in their tracks. Along with highly targeted attacks and the never-ending phishing threat, Google reckons it protects its users from hundreds of thousands of these account hijacking attempts every day. #Give it to me now passwordThanks to password reuse being so prevalent these often lead attackers right back to places like Google in an attempt to take over an account and access the keys to the phishing and fraud kingdom: your Gmail. Most account hijack attempts involve automated bots that leverage access to password breach databases, breaches that have happened elsewhere than Google. An account recovery phone number to be precise. Yep, you've guessed it: that proactive measure is handing your phone number over to Google. The year-long study covered both the broader threatscape as well as targeted attacks and determined that one simple security proactive measure can prevent the vast majority of account hijacking attempts. They looked at research conducted by Google in association with New York University and the University of California to try and determine the impact that basic account hygiene can have on security. No, I haven't been drinking but rather reading the reading in question being a posting on the Google security blog by researchers Kurt Thomas and Angelika Moscicki. Today is not one of those days, it's an exception to the usual rule in that I'm suggesting in response to Google requesting your phone number that it might just be a very good idea to hand it over. #Give it to me now how toI'm bucking that trend right now: yes you should give Google your phone number and here's why. More often than not I am handing out advice regarding how to control the amount of data about you it has, or tips on stopping it from tracking you when using Google Maps. There's a rule of thumb that if an article poses a question in the headline then the answer is always no.
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