As more Indians come online, it’s important that they’re aware of the tools available to them and the steps they can take to keep themselves safe and their information secure. This Safer Internet Day we’re rolling out some new features and resources designed to protect you online. We’re also pleased to be expanding some of our initiatives in India to help raise awareness around online safety.
1. Making security settings simple
Our Security Checkup gives you a quick way to control the security settings for your Google Account. You can add a recovery phone number so we can get in touch if you’re ever locked out of your Google account, strengthen your password settings, see which devices are connected to your account, and more.
Like last year, if you complete the Security Checkup by February 11th you’ll get 2GB of extra Google Drive storage. This storage can be used across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos.
Safer Internet Day is a great time to do it, but you can—and should!—regularly take a Security Checkup to make sure your security settings are up to date. Start your Security Checkup by visiting My Account.
2. Making trustworthy messages easier to spot in Gmail
When you get an email from a friend, you shouldn’t need to worry if the sender is actually your friend, or if someone else is sneaking a peek at the email before it gets to your inbox.
Today, we’ll start rolling out notifications to Gmail users and Google for Work customers that warn them if they send or receive messages from non-encrypted or unauthenticated sources.
Here’s the notice you’ll see in Gmail before you send a message to a source that doesn’t support TLS encryption.
And here’s what you’ll see if you receive a message which can’t be authenticated as protection against impersonation:
3. Promoting awareness about online safety among Indian Internet users
We want to help make as many people’s Internet experience as positive as possible. This is why we’re working with a number of partners in India to help raise awareness around Internet safety.
Last year, through our Web Rangers program, we set ourselves a goal of reaching 5,000 schools around India to train school kids to help spread awareness about safe surfing practices among their peers. This year we are expanding the reach of the program to 10,000 schools and 1,000 universities all around India.
We’re also collaborating with Consumer Voice to train community organizations across 27 states, who will in turn conduct online safety trainings for members of their community. And we’re also excited to collaborate with the Data Security Council of India to run a special information security awareness program for small and medium sized enterprises.
Online security and safety have always been everyone’s responsibility. Now, with many more Indians using the Internet, they’re really on everyone’s mind. On Safer Internet Day, we hope you’ll take five minutes to learn more about what you can do to protect yourself, and participate in some of the initiatives to work toward a safer online web.
Posted by Sunita Mohanty, Director Trust and Safety, Google India