USA Today:
Google on Tuesday rolled out a nasty-complicated but insanely secure version of its Google accounts aimed at “those who need it most,” such as journalists, politicians and activists. It’s not pretty but stands a good chance of keeping the bad guys out.
Called the Advanced Protection Program, it requires users to jump through a series of hoops most Internet companies have worked for years to make go away — dongles, extra passwords, locked-down systems that can’t talk to anything else and a non-intuitive sign-up procedure.
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“What I think has changed is that people recognize they may never be able to ‘learn’ how to act optimally in a defensive sense, so this program literally eliminates many sources of humans messing up,” said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist with the Washington D.C.-based non-profit the Center for Democracy & Technology.
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This isn’t an email system for everybody, Hall said. Those who are considering it should think carefully about the threats they face before they sign on. For most regular email users it will be overkill.