This article has been indexed from Google Online Security Blog
What happens to our digital accounts when we stop using them? It’s a question we should all ask ourselves, because when we are no longer keeping tabs on what’s happening with old accounts, they can become targets for cybercrime.
In fact, quite a few recent high-profile breaches targeted inactive accounts. The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack came through an inactive account that didn’t use multifactor authentication, according to a consultant who investigated the incident. And in the case of the recent T-Mobile breach this summer, information from inactive prepaid accounts was accessed through old billing files. Inactive accounts can pose a serious security risk.
For Google users, Inactive Account Manager helps with that problem. You can decide when Google should consider your account inactive and whether Google should delete your data or share it with a trusted contact.
Here’s How it Works
Once you sign up for Inactive Account Manager, available in My Account settings, you are asked to decide three things:
- When the account should be considered inactive: You can choose 3, 6, 12 or 18 months of inactivity before Google takes action on your account. Google will notify you a month before the designated time via a message sent to your phone and an email sent to the address you provide.
- Who to notify and what to share: You can choose up to 10 people for Google to notify once your Google Account becomes inactive (they won’t be notified during setup). You can also give them access to some of your data. If you choose to share data with your trusted contacts, the email will include a list of the selected data you wanted to share with them, and a link they can follow to download that data. This can include things like photos, contacts, emails, documents and other data that you specifically choose to share with your trusted contact. You ca
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Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.Read the original article: Google Protects Your Accounts – Even When You No Longer Use Them