A day late, but yesterday, February 10 was Safer Internet Day. Google is of course a massive presence on the web and in charge of a good deal of personal information. In light of this, Google is encouraging you to partake in a simple 2 minute security checkup for Safer Internet Day and they’re offering a permanent 2GB bump in your Drive storage as a way to say thanks.
The Security Checkup checks through your setup, checking your Recovery information, Recent activity and Account permissions. The checks aren’t anything terribly intrusive, although you may be asked to provide a recovery phone number to verify your identity:
- Ensures your account recovery information is current
If we detect suspicious activity in your account, we use your recovery info to get in touch and make sure no one but you gains access. - Lets you review recent sign-in activity
Reviewing this lets you validate the sign-ins are coming from you and not someone who shouldn’t be using your credentials. - Confirms the apps and devices that access some account information
This step lets you monitor this list and remove apps and devices that don’t need access to your account any more.
The offer for 2GB of Drive storage is limited to Gmail accounts, with Google adding an addendum advising that Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education accounts are not eligible for the additional storage, but do recommend completing the check anyway.
Head over to the Google Security Checkup and complete it before February 17th to be eligible for the 2GB Google Drive storage extension, which will be applied to your account on February 28th.
I did the check but I don’t have a gmail account, I use Exchange, I didn’t get offered the 2GB. I’ll try with my alt. EDIT I tried with my ALT didn’t see anything offered.
Read the article and other comments!
I’ll quote a quote for you: ‘Last line mate : “which will be applied to your account on February 28th”‘
Not surprised it’s not available for Google Apps customers. They already have unlimited space.
I’ve paid to upgrade my personal account, wonder if I’ll still get the 2. Time will tell.
2GB is not that much these days, but it is free. Microsoft OneDrive is now offering a free 200GB, although only for 2 years, not “forever’.
Google does not protect the data with encryption at rest. If you’ve got sensitive files or HIPAA compliance issues, a tool like Syncdocs will automatically encrypt your sensitive Google Drive files with a separate password.
I just completed mine and never got this free 2GB. what is this?
Last line mate : “which will be applied to your account on February 28th”
It’s not a day late over in Perth! 🙂