Ensure Security of Your Google Account with Google Account Activity

Do you have a Google account? I presume you have. Would you mind allowing me to access your Google account. Yeah, you can trust me. Any problem with that?! Well, I'm just asking. Personally, I'd be nervous enough to give away my login credentials for someone ;) To be honest, I'd say NO! There could be scenarios where you would share login information with your best friend, spouse, co-worker etc. But, what if someone accessing your Google account without your knowledge?

Strong Passwords

Using strong passwords is a best practice to secure your online accounts. You might never know your account has been compromised until end of the story. So take preventative measures whenever you can, especially when it comes to security. My friends shared very helpful and easy to use tools for that matter. If you are thinking about it right now, head over to Barry's Creating and Using Secure Passwords With Ease and Adrienne's How To Access Your Passwords Easily posts to get started.

Preventative Measures

Now it's not about using strong passwords I'm intending to talk here, neither how to stay away from suspicious content. Eventhough you have strong and unique passwords that no one ever would take a guess, still there can be security holes in services you are using to access your accounts. You can trust Google for that matter, but hackers never invite you to the party until you become a victim.

Transparency always boost the trust among related parties. If we talk about transparency, Google is ingenious. If you know what I mean ;) Eventhough you considered all the preventative measures, how would you know whether someone accessing your account or is it only you? On Facebook you can notify if someone else accessing your account. Further, Google has an answer for you.

Google Account Activity

Google let you review activity for your Google accounts and related Google products and services, by aligning with their privacy policy.

For example you can see how many emails you have sent and received via Gmail, how many videos you have been viewing on YouTube and so on. It's suppose to reveal most of data that Google is tracking about you to result productive outcome.

Google Account Activity provide users a monthly summary of their account activity across many Google products and services. It depends on the Google services you are engaged in. It helps users to identify what is going on with their accounts and trending actions. As Google depicts, the exclusive reason for this feature is to focus on users' account security.

The best part is, it reveals the location, browsers and platforms you were using when you sign in for Google products or services. You already know I'm from Sri Lanka and I'm logging into my Google account via computer and smartphone. So here's what my account activity reports to me.

I'm SAFE here. Likewise, you can take a look at yours and see if you have any suspicious information on the activity report.

Let's say you are from United Kingdom and the report has multiple locations in addition to United Kingdom. Something fishy going on, eh? Unless you have shared your login credentials with someone else, you can take necessary steps to secure your account such as resetting password, but you have to wait for next month's activity report to confirm that no one else been accessing your account since the password change.

It's simple. Isn't it? But still Google has some known issues with this service. Please take few seconds to check them out just to make sure you are not gonna fall for a known issue. Best is yet to come :)

Before You Go:

You are required to login to your Google account before opt in to Google Account Activity reports.

Steps:

1. Go to Google Account Activity page.

2. Set your timezone and opt in to Google Account Activity Report.

3. You will be notified when a new report is available for your account via email.


More Information:

* You may need to verify your password each time you navigate to Google Account Activity Report page because this service involves your personal information.

* You can delete your reports at anytime.

* If you think someone else has gained access to your account after reviewing your activity report, reset your password immediately. If you have no access to your account right now, submit a Google Account Recovery Form.

Enjoy :-)