Gmail Adds New Security Features

Today Google has introduced a new Gmail alerts system to further protect users from hackers and scammers.

Should Google detect any suspicious activity happening with your Gmail account, you’ll now see a bright red warning below the search bar alerting you to the issue. You can then click the “Show details and preferences” link to view logs around your Gmail account’s most recent access points, and determine whether or not there’s a cause for alarm. You can also change your password from that window if need be.

The new security mechanism works at the IP level to automatically match IP addresses with broad geographic locations, with irregularities triggering the system to respond. So, “a login appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a login from another country may trigger an alert.”

Right now the protective mechanism is available to individual Gmail users, but it should be rolled out to Google Apps customers in the future. It’s a smart idea and a necessary feature addition that we hope works to protect Gmail users from malicious individuals.