Google adds new “high visibility” security alerts

Google published a blog on Wednesday explaining how the company plans on using a new process to alert Google Account subscribers when a serious security issue pops up. Back in 2015, Android alerts were used to notify people when they had a security issue with their Google Account. This notification would appear if someone’s account was, for example, hacked. With the new notifications, Google saw a 20-fold increase in the number of users who responded to them within an hour of their receipt compared to those who received word of a security issue via email.

Soon, Google says that it will release a new security alert that will surface on whichever Google app that the user has open and it will help him address a problem. These new alerts cannot be spoofed so if one shows up on a Google app, the user can be sure that it is genuine. This feature will be rolling out on a limited basis over the next few weeks with a broader distribution expected to begin early in 2021.

Google also announced today that it has added a new Guest mode for Google Assistant. With Guest mode, you can use a simple voice command to save your Assistant interactions somewhere else instead of on your device. You can also turn off Guest mode at any time to get the full personalized version of Google Assistant back again. You can also use your voice to delete what you just said to Google Assistant. And the latter will now instantly answer more questions about privacy and security.

Google says, “To make it easier to control your privacy, you’ll soon be able to directly edit your Location History data in Timeline by adding or editing places you’ve visited with just a few taps, and because Search is the starting point for so many questions, starting today we’ll display your personal security and privacy settings when you ask things like “Is my Google Account secure?”

Google claims to block over 100 million phishing attempts a day; the Google Play Project scans over 100 million apps daily looking for malware and other problems.