It’s simple – you enter your username and password in Gmail, as usual, but instead of a code that’s sent to your phone, you need to insert the pen drive into the port on your computer – and click on the button which says add – to complete the second step of the identification process.Ī would-be attack, who isn’t in possession of the device, will be denied access.

Google accounts are also now supported if you access it through the Chrome browser. This gadget is a USB device that can be purchased for under 6 euros through Amazon. Led by Google, FIDO Alliance is developing a technology (U2F Security Key) that makes it imperative that you have the gadget in order to access the account. The answer to all this has arrived in the form of a pen drive. This way, if they manage to fool you, they can access your account without needing to have the device which contains the code. Cybercriminals can create webpages almost identical to the official pages of Google or Facebook, for example, which will demand the verification code sent to your mobile phone.

However, the techniques thought up to circumvent the two-step verification have become more sophisticated. The bottom line is that it makes it harder for the attacker to access your account as they won’t have the code available. The confirmation might be a code that arrives by SMS to your mobile phone, an automatic call in which a robot reads the code, an email that you receive within the associated service, or a notification in the app. It requires a bit more effort than simply entering a password, yes, but the protection it offers you is worth it. We have already commented on this on more than one occasion – enabling a two-step verification for all services that we use (Gmail, Facebook, etc) is a basic security measure that we should not overlook. Due to the increasing prevalence of cyber-attacks resulting in massive data leaks, it is of utmost importance that we keep our profiles under lock and key so as to avoid becoming another victim.

U2f security key