The new security strategy will rely on push notifications sent to users` smartphones, enabling them to use a phone to sign into their Google account on the desktop.
Users first have to authorize their phone for use as an authentication device. After entering their email in the Google account log-in field, a pop-up message on their phone asks them to authenticate the session. Once they acknowledge the pop-up, the desktop page forwards as if they have entered the correct password manually. This test is reportedly for both iOS and Android.
In a similar move, Yahoo rolled out ‘Account Key’ in October 2015. Yahoo’s security feature works the same way Google’s test batch does. When users log on their Yahoo mail account on their desktop or tablet, a push notification will be sent to their smartphone to verify if it is really the user attempting to login.
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