Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Google’s Titan Key ensures your phone and apps are virtually unhackable

By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google is exceptionally good at ensuring your account is not accessed by a malicious character. The tech giant has a 99.9 percent success rate when it comes to preventing unauthorized access to its accounts, even when its confirmed with a password and phone number. But for Google, 99.9 percent is not enough: It wants to block all malicious attempts.

To meet its goal, Google released Titan Key, its first security key kit for consumers. Titan Key is used as a secondary verification method that is used in addition to your regular Google password. The Titan Key kit includes a USB-A key as well as a Bluetooth Low Energy key, and it’s more secure than other two-step authentication methods such as codes sent via text messaging or email that can be intercepted by hackers.

Recommended Videos

Setting up the Titan Key is painless. To set up on a computer, you will need to use Google’s Chrome browser, head to the Titan Key setup site, and follow the directions on using a Security Key for two-step verification. The process takes a few minutes, but you’ll want to set up both security keys at the same time.

Once your security keys are paired to your web account, you can now start setting up the keys to work on your smartphone. You may need to log out of your Google account and sign back in, then follow the directions for two-step verification. When prompted, select the Bluetooth option and follow the directions to pair your key. In the near future, Android users will be able to quickly pair the Titan Key via NFC.

iPhone users will need to install Google Smart Lock to pair their keys. When prompted, sign into your Google account and click the BLE key to begin pairing. It’s worth noting that Titan Key is not compatible with Apple’s default Mail app, so you’ll need to install Google’s Gmail or Inbox by Gmail apps.

Still, the Titan Key is not only limited to Google services. Since the Key supports the FIDO (Fast ID Online) standard, you can use it with any website that allows you to use a security key for two-step verification. There’s a growing number of sites that support this, including Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, Stripe, and Dropbox. Expect more sites to support security key authentication in the future as people become more comfortable with the technology.

Titan Key is available now on the Google Store. The Titan Key kit sells for $50 and includes a USB-A security key, Bluetooth Low Energy security key (that charges via MicroUSB), a USB-A to USB-C adapter, and MicroUSB cable. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Steven Winkelman
Steven Winkelman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven writes about technology, social practice, and books. At Digital Trends, he focuses primarily on mobile and wearables…
If you have one of these apps on your Android phone, delete it immediately
The app drawer on the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

The NSO Group raised security alarms this week, and once again, it’s the devastatingly powerful Pegasus malware that was deployed in Jordan to spy on journalists and activists. While that’s a high-profile case that entailed Apple filing a lawsuit against NSO Group, there’s a whole world of seemingly innocuous Android apps that are harvesting sensitive data from an average person’s phone.
The security experts at ESET have spotted at least 12 Android apps, most of which are disguised as chat apps, that actually plant a Trojan on the phone and then steal details such as call logs and messages, remotely gain control of the camera, and even extract chat details from end-to-end encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp.
The apps in question are YohooTalk, TikTalk, Privee Talk, MeetMe, Nidus, GlowChat, Let’s Chat, Quick Chat, Rafaqat, Chit Chat, Hello Chat, and Wave Chat. Needless to say, if you have any of these apps installed on your devices, delete them immediately.
Notably, six of these apps were available on the Google Play Store, raising the risk stakes as users flock here, putting their faith in the security protocols put in place by Google. A remote access trojan (RAT) named Vajra Spy is at the center of these app's espionage activities.

A chat app doing serious damage

Read more
Don’t update your Google Pixel phone — you might break it
A person holding the Google Pixel 8, showing the screen.

One of the reasons to buy a Google Pixel phone is to be first in line to receive software updates — from new Android versions to important security patches. Unfortunately, one of the latest updates from Google is breaking some Pixel phones.

Over the weekend, a Reddit user on the r/GooglePixel subreddit compiled a list of threads from nearly a dozen Pixel owners reporting issues with their phones after downloading the most recent January 2024 Google Play system update.

Read more
Google is killing your passwords, and security experts are (mostly) happy
Logging into a Google account with passkeys on an iPhone.

Google is inching closer to making passwords obsolete. The solution is called "Passkeys," a unique form of password that is stored locally on your phone or PC, just the way a physical security key works. The passkeys are protected behind a layer of authentication, which can be your fingerprint or face scan — or just an on-screen pattern or PIN.

Passkeys are faster, linked across platforms, and save you the hassle of remembering passwords for websites or services that you have subscribed to. There is a smaller scope for human error, and the risks of 2-factor authentication code interception are also reduced.

Read more