We aim to secure all of our users with simple, powerful and personalized protections. The Advanced Protection Program helps high-risk users—like members of political campaign teams, journalists, activists, executives, employees in regulated industries such as finance or government—shield themselves from targeted, sophisticated attacks on their Google Accounts. We’ve helped protect these types of people for many years: we introduced our government-backed attack warnings in 2012, and from July to September 2019, we sent more than 12,000 warnings to users around the world.
People consistently tell us the Advanced Protection Program has been a leap forward for their security, but we haven’t made it easy enough to enroll. Today, we’re simplifying Advanced Protection while maintaining the same high level of security protections. Now, if you have an Android phone or iPhone, you can sign up and enroll into the program with just a few clicks. Here’s how it works.
Advanced Protection, simplified
Advanced Protection offers added protection from phishing attacks because the program requires exclusive use of security keys. According to a study we released last year, people who exclusively used security keys to sign into their accounts never fell victim to targeted phishing attacks. But, using security keys can be a hurdle for users: they can be costly, and acquiring and keeping track of two extra pieces of hardware is a burden.
Everything becomes much simpler when the things we’re already carrying around—our smartphones—have a built-in security key. That’s been the case on Android since last year, and starting today you can activate a security key on your iPhone as well. Millions of people around the world—many high-risk users among them—use iPhones, and this new capability makes Advanced Protection significantly easier for them. To learn more about using your iPhone’s security key, check out this post on our security blog.
Approving the sign-in to a Google Account via Google's Smart Lock app
Getting started with Advanced Protection
You can enroll in Advanced Protection with a few clicks if you have a phone running Android 7+ or iOS 10.0+.
- iPhone: Download and sign into the Google Smart Lock app to activate a security key on your iPhone. Then visit g.co/advancedprotection to enroll in the Advanced Protection Program.
- Android: Visit g.co/advancedprotection to activate your phone’s security key and enroll in the program with one click.
Advanced Protection enrollment for Android users
With attacks on the rise, and many major events on the horizon this year like the U.S. elections in November, the Advanced Protection Program offers a simple way to incorporate the strongest account protections that Google offers. Enroll now.
