A Better Dashboard: Helping Detect Suspicious Log ins

June 30th, 2010 | Published in Google Public Policy

Posted by Yariv Adan, Product Manager

A few months back we launched a feature in Gmail that notifies you when our servers automatically detect suspicious log in activity on your account. Since this has been effective in helping people identify improper access, we decided to extend it to all our Google Account users, not just Gmail. Starting this week, If we detect any suspicious log in on any of your Google Account products, we’ll display a notification on your Google Dashboard.

How does this work? Using the IP address you provide to us, our automated system can determine your broad geographic location. If you log in using a remote IP address, our system will flag it for you. So if you normally log into your account from your home in California and then a few hours later your account is logged in from France, you’ll get a notice like the one above at the top of your Dashboard page - alerting you to the change and providing links for more details.

When you get this notice and if you think your account has been compromised, you can then change your password directly from the ‘more details’ pop-up window.

Or, if you know it was legitimate access (e.g. you were traveling or your spouse who uses the same account was traveling), you can easily click "Dismiss" and remove the message. These notifications will hopefully help you identify suspicious activity but should not be considered a replacement for following best practices to keep your data secure.

In other Dashboard news, we recently added a link at the bottom of the page for you to ‘report an issue’ making it easier for you to tell us about a problem or to just share your thoughts. We want to work with you to keep making the Dashboard better, so let us know how we’re doing or ways we can improve your experience. Just note we may not be able to reply to every single report; but rest assured, we will read the feedback so we can keep making the Dashboard better.

So send us your thoughts. Take care to protect your information. And always keep an eye out for future improvements and upgrades to your Dashboard.

Google Data

A Better Dashboard: Helping Detect Suspicious Log ins

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