There’s nothing that throws a peaceful moment online into TURMOIL like two-factor authentication and it’s terrifying race against the clock. Maybe one day we’ll have THREE-factor auth . . .
Google just announced that Google Accounts will be getting a new “selfie video” sign-in option that can be handy if you lose your phone or passkeys.
Setting it up is a little like storing your fingerprints, if you’ve done that before.
You’ll need to take a SELFIE VIDEO for reference . . . where you show different angles of your face. It only takes a few moments. Basically, you just look ahead and move the camera around your face like you do when you’re talking a selfie, and are looking for an angle with good lighting.
It can also be set up on a laptop, using that camera.
Then, if you’re locked out of your Google Account in the future, you just take another selfie video. Google will “match your video against your saved selfie, and require you to perform simple movements to prove it’s a real, live video.”
They say that this includes “multiple layers of security” to help prevent “deepfakes” and other impersonation attempts.
For now, this is only a Google thing, but it wouldn’t be surprising if other apps implement this . . . as the LATEST INNOVATION in digital security.