Google’s top tips for keeping you and your family safer online

While Google promises to keep your personal information is secure, there are still some best practices that you and your family can follow to help ensure you are safer not only while on Google but also while navigating the wider internet. With Safer Internet Day just a couple of days behind us, take a moment to strengthen your online security by following these quick tips and help guide the younger users in your life to do the same.

Learn more about these tips over at this link.

Keep your software up-to-date

To help protect your online activity, always run the latest version of software across the web browsers, operating systems, and applications on all your devices. Some services, including the Chrome browser, will automatically update themselves. Other services may notify you when it’s time to update.

Use unique passwords for your accounts

Using the same password to log in to multiple accounts increases your security risk. It’s like using the same key to lock your home, car, and office—if someone gains access to one, all of them could be compromised. Create a unique password for each account to eliminate this risk and keep your accounts more secure. Along with creating unique passwords, make sure that each password is hard to guess and better yet, at least eight characters long.

Consider using a password manager, like the one built into your Chrome browser, to help you create, safeguard, and keep track of all the passwords for your online accounts.

Take the Google Security Checkup

The Security Checkup gives you personalized and actionable security recommendations that help you strengthen the security of your Google Account.

Taking the Security Checkup doesn’t just help you stay safer while using Google. The Checkup also includes helpful tips to keep you safer across the web, such as by reminding you to add a screen lock to your mobile phone, reviewing third-party access to your Google Account data, and showing you what sites and apps you may have signed in to using your Google Account.

Go to g.co/securitycheckup to take your Security Checkup.

Set up a recovery phone number or email address and keep it updated

Adding recovery information—such as a phone number or backup email address—to your account can help you more quickly get back into your account if you ever lose access or can’t sign in. Remember to update the information if you change your phone number or email address.

For many web services, a recovery phone number or email address can be used to notify you if there’s suspicious activity in your account or can help to block someone from using your account without permission.

For example, if an unknown device is used to sign in to your Google Account, you may be required to verify that the sign in is legitimate by entering a code that gets sent to your recovery phone number. To set up recovery information on your Google Account, visit security.google.com and click “Your personal info.”

Go a step further by setting up 2-Step Verification

Go one step further to secure your accounts by setting up 2-Step Verification, which requires you to use a second step on top of your username and password to sign in to your account. Examples of second verification steps include a six-digit code generated by an app, a prompt that you receive on a trusted device, or the use of a physical security key (the strongest form of a second step).

Setting up 2-Step Verification will significantly decrease the chance of someone gaining unauthorized access to your account. Once you set up 2-Step Verification for an account, remember to be ready for the second verification step each time you sign in.

To set up 2-Step Verification on your Google Account, visit g.co/2sv.

If you have children, talk to them about online safety early, and set digital ground rules for your household (http://g.co/beinternetawesome)

Just like we teach our kids how to drive before handing our kids the keys to the car, it’s helpful to teach younger kids the basics of online safety and citizenship before handing them a device. A great way to get started is to review the Be Internet Awesome parent’s guide together. You can teach them about being kind online, how to make strong passwords, what is appropriate to share online with whom, how to spot online scams, and when it’s time to consult a trusted adult. They can also reinforce all of these topics by playing the Interland game online. Once they’ve earned their driver’s license for the web, it’s also helpful to lay down some digital ground rules as they begin to explore. If your kids have an Android or Chromebook device, you can use the Family Link app to do things like manage their Google Account settings, approve or block the apps and websites they can use, and set screen time limits. You can learn more at google.com/familylink