In anticipation of Halloween, Google has announced four security tips to help you avoid falling victim to common tricks used by hackers. These tips are also useful for recovering your account if it gets hacked.
Four security tips from Google
The first tip, announced by the company in an official blog post, has to do with the settings, even before the user types in their name and password.
JavaScript must be enabled
Jonathan Skelker, a product manager at Google, said the company is constantly working to secure user accounts. Right now, the company won't let you sign in if JavaScript is disabled in your browser.
With the help of JavaScript, Google performs risk assessment checks, and if users have disabled JavaScript to save bandwidth or load pages faster, the security checks are not performed. This puts your account at risk.
According to Google's data, this change will only affect a small number (0.01%) of users.
Extracting data from Google Play Protect to detect malicious Android apps
The company is strengthening Google Play Protect, a security checker included in the Google Play Store. It prevents users from installing malicious apps that could compromise their security.
According to the blog post, Google will pull data from Google Play Protect to list all malicious apps still installed on a user's Android smartphone. This information will be visible in the Google Security Checkup of the account settings.
Users can now disconnect their account from devices they no longer use.
See All third-party apps that have access to your data
The third tip shared by Google concerns third-party apps that have access to your data. Google will display a notification whenever users share their data with third-party apps and websites.
Additionally, users can see which apps have access to their data by going to the “Security Checkup” section
Recovering your account in case of hacking
Google explained several steps to regain access to your account, in case you fall victim to hacking.
The blog post mentioned the following steps to quickly recover your account.
- Verify critical security settings to ensure your account is not vulnerable to additional attacks and that no one can access it through other means, such as a recovery phone number or email address.
- Secure your other accounts, as your Google account can be linked to accounts on other services, and a hijacking can leave them vulnerable as well.
- Check financial activity to see if payment methods associated with your account, such as a credit card or Google Pay.
- Check your content and files to see if any of your Gmail or Drive data was compromised.
