Google Apps tap mobiles for beefier log-in security

Google is tapping user cell phones to provide an extra level of sign-in security for Google Apps, its suite of online business applications.

On Monday, the company announced that it's now offering what it calls two-step verification. When the new tool is turned on and you log in to your Google Apps account, it requires not only a password but a separate verification code pulled from your mobile phone. "This makes it much more likely that you’re the only one accessing your data," the company said in a blog post. "Even if someone has stolen your password, they'll need more than that to access your account."

The verification code is sent to your mobile phone via SMS, voice call, or an application that's available for Android handsets, BlackBerries, and iPhones. The service is available today for free on the Premier, Education, and Government editions of Google Apps, and users of the free Standard edition will have access "in the months ahead."

Administrators must activate the tool from the Admin Control Panel, and individual users can then set it up via the Accounts tab on their Gmail settings page. If you like, you can turn the service off for certain "trusted computers" (i.e. your work desktop) but leave it on whenever your account is accessed from other machines. "You can...indicate when you're using a computer you trust and don't want to be asked for a verification code from that machine in the future," the company said.

Google also plans to roll the service out across individual Google accounts (i.e. regular accounts for non-Google Apps users) in the coming months.

In an effort to encourage other outfits to adopt similar services, Google has based its two verification on the Initiative for Open Authentication (OATH) standard (not to be confused with OAuth), and it has open sourced its verification code mobile application – Google Authenticator – so that others can customize it as they see fit. ®