Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has recently announced its intentions to allow two-factor authentication by default to increase security. The company first announced its plans in May. This month which also happens to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Google has announced that it will enable the feature in 150 million accounts by the end of 2021.
Google has been encouraging people to activate the two-factor authentication feature since 2018, when it reported that only 10% of accounts had enabled it. About 2 million YouTube creators will also be required to activate the feature to prevent an account takeover.
Google faces new rival
Despite Google’s efforts to beef up on security, they are now facing a new rival. Talon Cybersecurity is an Israeli start-up founded by Ofer Ben-Woon and Ohad Bobrov. The founders have come up with a plan to reduce cyberattacks on their browsers. Zero-day attacks have occurred at a record rate this year, with chrome constantly issuing new upgrades. Ben-Woon and Bobrov have already received investments from top investors such as Mark Anderson, George Kurts, and John Thompson.
This announcement comes shorts after the Justice Department accidentally unsealed a warrant. The keyword warrant ordered Google to identify people who had searched for the full name, address, and phone numbers of a certain kidnapping victim in Wisconsin.
Many people believe that keyword warrants are a violation of first amendment rights. Before this, only two other keyword warrants were known to have been issued.
Ireland to increase taxes for multinational companies
Another hit to Google is the plan by Ireland to join an agreement by the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that increases its taxes on profits for multinational companies from 12.5% to 15%. Ireland has long been a tax haven for various tech companies such as Facebook, Inc. Common Stock (NASDAQ: F.B.), Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google, and pharmaceutical companies.
Ireland was among 140 countries that signed the OECD agreements. The move is to make tax laws fair internationally and reduce tax avoidance. It will require countries to pay taxes in countries where their products are sold even when they do not physically exist.
Google has also announced a plan with 500GB of Google One Cloud storage with its partner T-Mobile.
