Type of site Single sign-on Website myaccount.google.com | Owner Google | |
Slogan(s) One account. All of Google. | ||
A Google Account is a user account that is required for access, authentication and authorization to certain online Google services, including Gmail, Google+, Google Hangouts and Blogger. A wide variety of Google products do not require an account, including Google Search, Youtube, Google Books, Google Finance and Google Maps.
Contents
After a Google Account is created, the owner may selectively enable or disable various Google applications.
YouTube and Blogger maintain separate accounts for users who registered with the services before the Google acquisition. However, effective April 2011 YouTube users are required to link to a separate Google Account if they wish to continue to log in to that service.
Google Account users may create a publicly accessible Google profile, to configure their presentation on Google products to other Google users. A Google profile can be linked to a user's profiles on various social-networking and image-hosting sites, as well as user blogs.
Third-party service providers may implement service authentication for Google Account holders via the Google Account mechanism.
Security
While creating a Google account, users are asked to provide a recovery email address to allow them to reset their password if they have forgotten it, or if their account is hacked. In some countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and India, Google may also require one-time use of a mobile phone number to send an account validation code by SMS text messaging or voice message when creating a new account.
Google also offers a 2-step verification option—for additional security against hacking—that requests a validation code each time the user logs into their Google account. The code is either generated by an application ("Google Authenticator") or received from Google as an SMS text message, a voice message, or an email to another account. Trusted devices can be "marked" to skip this 2-step log-on authentication. When this feature is switched on, software that cannot provide the validation code (e.g. IMAP and POP3 clients) must use a unique 16-character alphanumeric password generated by Google instead of the user's normal password.
On June 5, 2012, a new security feature was introduced to protect users from state-sponsored attacks. Whenever Google analysis indicate that a government has attempted to compromise an account, a notice will be displayed that reads "Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be trying to compromise your account or computer."
Account blocking
Google may block an account for various reasons, such as "unusual activity" or entering an age "not old enough" to own a Google account. Reactivation is possible using web-forms, providing proof of identity through valid photo ID, or a small credit card payment (at a cost of 0.30 USD). Other methods (such as sending a fax or uploading some requested document) require human interaction and may take some "days or a couple of weeks" to be accomplished.
Third party use
A provider of an authenticated web applications can delegate the authentication function to Google. When a user tries to gain access to a secure resource on the third party website they are redirected to the Google Accounts login page. Here they will see an explanation of why they need to log in with their Google credentials. Any data which is to be shared with the third party will also be listed on this screen. Once authentication has succeeded the user is redirected back to the referring site along with a token identifying them as having logged in via Google.