SAN FRANCISCO:– To boost the security of Google Apps, its web-based suite of email, messaging and collaboration applications, Google on Monday introduced a two-step verification process.

To sign in to their account with the combination of a password and a verification code sent to their mobile phone, the two-layer authentication requires Google Apps users. It was believed by the company that the new measures will give users stronger protection to help fend off risks like password reuse and phishing scams.

Eran Feigenbaum, director of security for Google Apps, said in a blog post, “This makes it much more likely that you’re the only accessing your data. Even if someone has stolen your password, they’ll need more than that to access your account”. The upgraded protection is now available to government, businesses and educational institutions that have subscribed to Google Applications.

Feigenbaum said, “In the coming months, we’ll also be offering this same security to our hundreds of millions of individual Google users”.