This year, Privacy Awareness Week and National Consumer Fraud Week fall within the same seven day period. We think this makes a lot of sense because in many ways, privacy and security are two sides of the same coin - if your data is not secure, it’s not private.
This is why we’ve made it easy for you to take control over your privacy and security online. If you have a Google account, visit MyAccount, where you can find and review all of your privacy and security settings in one place. We encourage you to take a look.
Privacy checkup
Privacy means different things to different people, in different situations. For example, I may share photos and videos I upload only with my family — others may feel comfortable posting them on the web. You can make these choices by selecting different YouTube or Google+ privacy settings. If you need a helping hand in guiding you through these choices, why not review your privacy settings and adjust them to your preferences by taking the Privacy Checkup?
Security checkup
In the last four years, we’ve been able to dramatically reduce the number of Google accounts that are compromised. But there are also some simple steps that you can take to help protect your account from intruders. By adding account recovery information, like a phone number, we can still get in touch with you in case you get locked out of your account. We also offer two-step verification (or two-factor authentication), which adds an extra layer of security to your account. You sign in with something you know (your password) and something you have (a code sent to your phone). This makes it much harder for unsavoury fellows to get access to your account.
Take a moment this #FraudWeekAU and #2016PAW to take a Security Checkup to add account recovery information, review the devices that you use to access your Google account, and to learn more about two-factor authentication.
In the end, privacy and security are closely tied to our sense of personal identity: it’s not ‘one size fits all’. That’s why people want to be in control of the information they share and have real choices about the services they use. And that’s what we focus on at Google.
Posted by Samantha Yorke, Public Policy and Government Affairs Manager, Google Australia