From CNET: If you were among the 150 million people that Google required to use two-factor authentication last year, consider yourself lucky: The chance your account was hacked dropped by half.
In the last three months of 2021, Google automatically enrolled 150 million account holders, along with 2 million YouTube users, in what it calls two-step verification, or 2SV. The security process usually combines a password with a second login challenge, such as a confirmation message in a Google app or a hardware security key.
The requirement proved worthwhile. Account compromises were half as likely on 2SV accounts than they were for password-only accounts, Google said in a blog post Tuesday.
"This decrease speaks volumes to how effective having a second form of verification can be in protecting your data and personal information," Google said. "Turn on 2SV (or we will!), as it makes all the difference in the event your password is compromised."
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