With many companies migrating their email and other services to Google Apps, the security of Google’s Gmail logins is becoming increasingly important. Until now, there has only been one level of defense, which is the user’s password. Now Google is doing something about it, allowing administrators to implement a two-step verification process that would require the users to login with their usual usename and password, and have a PIN number sent to their mobile phone via SMS or generated on an application that’s installed on an Android or BlackBerry device (iPhone support is on the way). The feature must be turned on by the administrator and is ready to be activated for Google Apps Premier, Education, and Government Editions, while Standard Edition customers will have to wait a little while longer. Some devices can be marked as trusted, such as your home computer, as it’s less likely to be stolen, as opposed to your notebook which you carry around with you all day.
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