advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Google is finally letting you move your Authenticator across devices

One of the easier ways of securing yourself online is by making use of two-factor authentication.

To explain it as simply as possible, two-factor authentication (or 2FA if you prefer) is an easy way of verifying that a user is who they say they are by requesting an additional bit of information.

That additional info can come from a text message, but one of the easier ways is to make use of an authenticator that provides a short-code you can use when prompted.

The trouble with using an application, specifically as regards Android, is that if you switch phones, you have to dive deep into your settings to disable your current authenticator and then install it on the new handset.

But, Google has announced that soon users will be able to transfer their 2FA functionality across devices that have the Google Authenticator installed.

The process for adding a new device to Google Authenticator can be found here.

For your peace of mind, Google says that no data is sent to Google servers during transfer of data. The firm says that your 2FA data cannot be accessed without physical access to an unlocked phone.

“We implemented a variety of alerting mechanisms and in-app logs to make sure users are aware when the transfer function has been used,” said Google.

This is good news and makes using the Google Authenticator a lot more user friendly.

In order to make use of this feature you will need to have the latest version of Google Authenticator which is version 5.10 at time of writing.

[Source – Google]

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement