You Can Now Use Your Android Smartphone As A Physical Two-Factor Authentication Key

Google is now allowing your Android smartphones to be a physical two-factor authentication key. This is definitely going to improve security when logging into Google applications and prevent from phishing attacks.

When it comes to security, users will take all the precautionary measures to make sure their devices are protected. Because in today’s world, it is not just prying eyes from strangers you have to watch out for.

Users should also be able to protect their personal informations from online attackers and scammers.

Android Smartphone As Physical Two-Factor Authentication Key Prevents Users From Phishing

Now, that is some good news for security conscious users out there. Google has made this announcement during their annual Cloud Next conference.

The company is hoping that this will improve security in your smartphones. This move is aimed to users prevent users from phishing.

Phishing is where attackers trick the users into revealing personal information like credit card details, passwords and much more so they can get access to your accounts.

With the two-factor authentication, it makes it even harder for the scammers and phishing attackers to gain access on your personal information.

The company announced that any phone that is running on Android 7.0 Nougat or higher can be used as a physical two-factor authentication.

Note that this will only work with the smartphones with Google Play Services and also a Bluetooth-enabled devices running Chrome OS, macOS X, or Windows 10 with a Chrome browser.

Setting Up Built-In Two-Authentication Key On Smartphones

Before, physical keys were only limited to dongles like Yubikey and Google’s Titan Security Key. Now, users will no longer have to carry extra keys with them.

The process is also very straightforward. So, setting up the built-in key will be a no brainer to users. Just follow the steps below:

• Add your Google account to your Android smartphone
• Make sure that you are enrolled to a two-step verification
• Visit the 2SV settings on your computer and click “Add security key”.
• Choose your smartphone from the list of devices.

Make sure that when you are signing in, the Bluetooth on your phone and device your are connecting to is turned on.

Finally, Google recommends that users register a backup security key to their accounts and keeping it in a safe place. So, if ever you lose your smartphone, you can still get into your accounts.