We recently posted an article 5 Ways to Secure Your Data and Information, which provided you with some great tips for adding more security to your home network and personal computer. However, much of your data may not be stored on your home network or computer at all, but rather on the internet. In today’s post, we will review 5 ways to secure your Google account.

Your Google account may also be also linked to the many Google services that you use. These services could be your YouTube account, Google Plus account or even your Google Checkout account that you use to purchase items online. Thus, it may be wise to maximize the security of your Google account by configuring some settings and taking some other actions, to minimize risk of compromised passwords and hacking attempts. Here are 5 things you can do to add more security to your Google account:

1. Setup Account Recovery

Account recovery can be extremely valuable if you forget your Google password, but even more valuable if your account is hacked and you need to recover it. To get started with account recovery, navigate toGoogle.com/settings and proceed to sign-in to your account. From there, click the Security listing.

Under the Security page, select the option Account recovery options.

Google will then redirect you to the Account Recovery homepage, where you can add a phone number for recovery purposes or an alternative email address which can be used to verify an account, should it be compromised or hacked.

2. Enable 2-step verification

By enabling 2-step verification on your G account, you can add an extra layer of security. With verification enabled, whenever your Google account is accessed from an unknown computer, login will require an extra step, or second step in order to successfully sign you in (text message verification).

To get started, navigate to Google.com/settings/security and select the Edit button next to 2-step verification.

From here, Google will prompt you to enable 2-step verification and setup your phone.

Note: You will not have to enter a code from your phone every time you sign in to Google. The only time that you will be required to enter the pin, is when you Google account is accessed from an unknown computer, location or IP address.

3. Application Specific Passwords

Accessing your Google account from the web browser on your computer is a bit different than accessing the account from another device such as smartphone. By setting up application specific passwords, you can create unique login passwords for apps and devices, which will be different from your standard Google password that you use to login from your PC.

For example, with application specific passwords enabled, if you access Google from your smartphone, you would sign in to your Google account using a specific password, rather than your regular Google password.

You can enable Application specific passwords on your account from the Google.com/settings/securitypage via the Authorizing applications and sites link.

4. Use Strong Passwords

We always encourage you to use strong passwords for any account, but because your G account is linked to many other services that you use also, including Gmail, it’s particularly wise to use a smart password for your main Google account.

If you currently have any dictionary words, meaning any word that is grammatically correct, in your Google password, you may want to consider changing it for better security against dictionary attacks and brute forcers.

A strong password will not make any sense, and involve uppercase and lowercase characters along with numerical characters and other symbols. For example:

OtT2359%$8*#^:)

Strong passwords like these are more difficult to remember, but they are important to strong account security.

5. Setup HTTPS

HTTPS is a more secure connection than the standard HTTP, that specializes in better protection and securing online data transfer. You can setup HTTPS for your Gmail account using the following steps:

By setting up the security options listed in today’s post, you can add several additional layers of security to your Google account, to minimize risk of being hacked or other malware or password attacks, all leading to a safer and more secure Google environment!