Google will offer its hundreds of millions of users the option of adding a second verification step when signing into their accounts, to complement the existing password-only authentication mechanism.

Users who choose to add this second step to their Google log-in process would reduce the likelihood of having their accounts hijacked if their password is stolen.

Google will begin to roll out the option for two-step verification on Thursday, and it will take a few days for it to be available to all users.

Google estimates that activating this feature could take up to 15 minutes. Once set up, it inevitably makes the log-in process longer, because in addition to the password, users will have to also enter a one-time code.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9208942/