Both device- and knowledge-based challenges help thwart automated bots, while device-based challenges help thwart phishing and even targeted attacks.
If you don’t have a recovery phone number established, then we might fall back on the weaker knowledge-based challenges, like recalling your last sign-in location. This is an effective defense against bots, but protection rates for phishing can drop to as low as 10%. The same vulnerability exists for targeted attacks. That’s because phishing pages and targeted attackers can trick you into revealing any additional identifying information we might ask for.
Given the security benefits of challenges, one might ask why we don’t require them for all sign-ins. The answer is that challenges introduce additional friction and increase the risk of account lockout. In an experiment, 38% of users did not have access to their phone when challenged. Another 34% of users could not recall their secondary email address.
If you lose access to your phone, or can’t solve a challenge, you can always return to a trusted device you previously logged in from to gain access to your account.
Digging into “hack for hire” attacks
Where most bots and phishing attacks are blocked by our automatic protections, targeted attacks are more pernicious. As part of our ongoing efforts to monitor hijacking threats, we have been investigating emerging “hack for hire” criminal groups that purport to break into a single account for a fee on the order of $750 USD. These attackers often rely on spear phishing emails that impersonate family members, colleagues, government officials, or even Google. If the target doesn’t fall for the first spear phishing attempt, follow-on attacks persist for upwards of a month.
Example man-in-the-middle phishing attack that checks for password validity in real-time. Afterwards, the page prompts victims to disclose SMS authentication codes to access the victim’s account.
We estimate just one in a million users face this level of risk. Attackers don’t target random individuals though. While the research shows that our automatic protections can help delay, and even prevent as many as 66% of the targeted attacks that we studied, we still recommend that high-risk users enroll in our Advanced Protection Program. In fact, zero users that exclusively use security keys fell victim to targeted phishing during our investigation.
Take a moment to help keep your account secure
Just like buckling a seat belt, take a moment to follow our five tips to help keep your account secure. As our research shows, one of the easiest things you can do to protect your Google Account is to set up a recovery phone number. For high-risk users—like journalists, activists, business leaders, and political campaign teams—our Advanced Protection Program provides the highest level of security. You can also help protect your non-Google accounts from third-party password breaches by installing the Password Checkup Chrome extension.
Steps to protect yourself
If you want to minimize the remaining risk until you receive your replacement keys, you can perform the following additional steps:
iOS devices: On devices running iOS version 12.2 or earlier, we recommend using your affected security key in a private place where a potential attacker is not within close physical proximity (approximately 30 feet). After you’ve used your key to sign into your Google Account on your device, immediately unpair it. You can use your key in this manner again while waiting for your replacement, until you update to iOS 12.3.
Once you update to iOS 12.3, your affected security key will no longer work. You will not be able to use your affected key to sign into your Google Account, or any other account protected by the key, and you will need to order a replacement key. If you are already signed into your Google Account on your iOS device, do not sign out because you won’t be able to sign in again until you get a new key. If you are locked out of your Google Account on your iOS device before your replacement key arrives, see these instructions for getting back into your account. Note that you can continue to sign into your Google Account on non-iOS devices.
On Android and other devices:
We recommend using your affected security key in a private place where a potential attacker is not within close physical proximity (approximately 30 feet). After you’ve used your affected security key to sign into your Google Account, immediately unpair it. Android devices updated with the upcoming June 2019 Security Patch Level (SPL) and beyond will automatically unpair affected Bluetooth devices, so you won’t need to unpair manually. You can also continue to use your USB or NFC security keys, which are supported on Android and not affected by this issue.
How to get a replacement key - updated on 07/16/20 Starting on July 16, 2020, we are changing the key replacement process. After July 16, 2020, if you have purchased a Bluetooth Titan Security Key ("T1" or "T2") from the Google Store, you can contact the Google Store directlyfor a replacement device. Is it still safe to use my affected BLE Titan Security Key?
It is much safer to use the affected key instead of no key at all. Security keys are the strongest protection against phishing currently available.
With Google I/O this week you are going to hear about a lot of new features in Android that are coming in Q. One thing that you will also hear about is how every new Android release comes with dozens of security and privacy enhancements. We have been continually investing in our layered security approach which is also referred to as“ defense-in-depth”. These defenses start with hardware-based security, moving up the stack to the Linux kernel with app sandboxing. On top of that, we provide built-in security services designed to protect against malware and phishing.
However layered security doesn’t just apply to the technology. It also applies to the people and the process. Both Android and Chrome OS have dedicated security teams who are tasked with continually enhancing the security of these operating systems through new features and anti-exploitation techniques. In addition, each team leverages a mature and comprehensive security development lifecycle process to ensure that security is always part of the process and not an afterthought.
Secure by design is not the only thing that Android and Chrome OS have in common. Both operating systems also share numerous key security concepts, including:
Heavily relying on hardware based security for things like rollback prevention and verified boot
Continued investment in anti-exploitation techniques so that a bug or vulnerability does not become exploitable
Implementing two copies of the OS in order to support seamless updates that run in the background and notify the user when the device is ready to boot the new version
Splitting up feature and security updates and providing a frequent cadence of security updates
On the Android Security & Privacy team we’re always trying to find ways to assess our ongoing security investments; we often refer to this as measurable security. One way we measure our ongoing investments is through third party analyst research such as Gartner’s May 2019 Mobile OSs and Device Security: A Comparison of Platforms report (subscription required). For those not familiar with this report, it’s a comprehensive comparison between “the core OS security features that are built into various mobile device platforms, as well as enterprise management capabilities.” In this year’s report, Gartner provides “a comparison of the out-of-the-box controls under the category “Built-In Security”. In the second part, called “Corporate-Managed Security, [Gartner] compares the enterprise management controls available for the latest versions of the major mobile device platforms”. Here is how our operating systems and devices ranked:
Android 9 (Pie) scored “strong” in 26 out of 30 categories
Pixel 3 with Titan M received “strong” ratings in 27 of the 30 categories, and had the most “strong” ratings in the built-in security section out of all devices evaluated (15 out of 17)
Chrome OS was added in this year's report and received strong ratings in 27 of the 30 categories.
Check out the video of Patrick Hevesi, who was the lead analyst on the report, introducing the 2019 report, the methodology and what went into this year's criteria.
You can see a breakdown of all of the categories in the table below:
Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
