new blog post Google’s has a new policy for dealing with inactive accounts. This is important for people who don’t log in regularly.
Google claims many overlooked accounts don’t have two-factor authentication enabled or use old or reused passwords that may have been compromised by cybercriminals. there is
In fact, Google claims its own research found that abandoned accounts were “at least 10 times less likely to have two-factor authentication set up than active accounts.”
What are your concerns? If your account is not well protected, it can be used to send spam, steal your identity, or spread malicious content.
Panic about your Google account being zapped? Not yet. Google says the policy will take effect now, but the earliest it will start deleting accounts is December 2023, and even then it will be deleted from accounts that were created but never used again. is said to be started.
In addition, Google will send multiple notifications to the email address (and recovery address, if any) in the months leading up to account deletion, warning that the account will expire if action is not taken. Says.
So how do you convince Google that your account is still active? The easiest way is to log into your account at least once every two years.
Alternatively, Google considers you “active” if you perform any of the following actions while logged into your account:
- read and send email
- Using Google Drive
- watch youtube video
- Download the app on Google Play Store
- Using Google Search
- Sign in to third-party apps or services using Sign in with Google
To be honest, I’m not entirely happy with this method of measuring Google account activity.
For example, long ago I set up a Google Mail account with the sole purpose of using it to forward to another email address.
I’m not logged into that Gmail account (the email is automatically forwarded to me because I don’t need to be logged in). Of course, we don’t use your account for things like Google Calendar or watching videos.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if Google considers the account to be inactive and may list it for deletion at some point in the future. In time, I suspect Google will automatically forward a warning to me, signaling me to log into an account that I have no reason to log into.
But what if you created a Google account just to distribute files to friends and family via Google Drive? Supposedly, I never used that his Google account for emails, and saved precious photos from family weddings and movies of my son’s first steps when he was a toddler.
Will I realize the time is ticking before Google erases my irreplaceable digital memories?
of course you should do it Back up your most valuable data. Of course, when creating additional Google accounts, should do it Provide a recovery email address you’re likely to check and where you’ll see warning emails from Google.
But we know people often don’t follow best practices.
And second, what if the account belongs to a deceased person? Family members may be relieved to have access to files left in a deceased relative’s Google Drive. If a deceased person hasn’t logged in for 2 years, will this be removed by Google? if their families fail to achieve it, struggle with managing e-mail accounts of relativesyou can easily imagine that the warning mail is not read by anyone.
my advice? Consider which Google Accounts you are currently using and which Google Accounts you may have created in the past. Log in, make sure it’s protected with a strong, unique password (use a password manager to help you remember your password), set up a recovery email address if you haven’t already, and enable two-step verification. Enable.
