Google rolls out new features to strengthen online security

Internet users in India today are more conscious about their online safety, internet giant Google India said on Wednesday as it rolled out several new features and resources designed to protect users online. Google India released some key interesting search trends of last year that point towards the demand of greater cyber security. The trends showed that in the past year there have been 20 percent more searches for “change password” and 97 percent more searches for “two-step verification”. Two-step verification requires more than just a password to sign into your Google account, such as a 6-digit code that is sent to your phone for more protection. Google said that in the past year itself, there have been 591 percent more searches for “how to track a lost phone”. So to ramp up the online security, Google is offering initiatives like simplifying security settings to making trustworthy messages easier to spot in Gmail. Google will also be driving multiple initiatives to drive awareness about online safety among Indian Internet users. “With an increase in the number of users coming online and the rise in the penetration of smartphone users in India, we at Google are committed to offering users a safe Internet experience,” Sunita Mohanty, director, trust and safety, Google India said in a statement. “We are adding five million new users a month taking the user base of aconnected’ Indians to 500 millions online by 2018-2019. It’s more important now than ever before to ensure the data and profiles of these users is safe online,” Mohanty added. While supporting Safer Internet Day, Google is also offering its users 2 GB of extra Google Drive storage on completion of the security check-up by February 11. IANS