At Google Montréal, Fabrice Jaubert, co-director of the office and head of Safe Browsing, shares his recommendations for effectively protecting your accounts and personal data against ever-evolving cyber threats.
The basics: maintaining good password hygiene
“The top tip to instantly improve your online security? Password hygiene,” asserts Fabrice Jaubert without hesitation. He recommends avoiding easily guessable passwords and using unique passwords for each site. A practical solution: adopt a password manager that generates and stores complex passwords.
The danger of reuse is very real. “We all have accounts on highly secure sites like banks, but also on others that are much less protected. If that smaller site gets hacked and the password is the same as your bank’s, you’re putting a critical account at risk.”
Beyond passwords
Password managers provide an extra layer of protection: they automatically fill in fields only on the correct sites, alerting users to potential phishing pages.
Fabrice Jaubert also emphasizes two-factor authentication (2FA): “This measure already eliminates a large portion of risks.” The ideal is to use an authenticator app or a hardware key.
He particularly highlights passkeys, “which are very robust.” The example given: authenticating to your bank using your fingerprint on your phone. “The key is tied to the device. Even if someone managed to steal it digitally, they wouldn’t be able to use it elsewhere.”
Recognizing scams and taking action
Faced with increasingly sophisticated scams, Fabrice Jaubert identifies two foolproof warning signs: “artificial urgency”, which creates a sense of panic, and “implausibility” of a situation.
He recommends enabling “Enhanced Protection” in Chrome’s Safe Browsing, which increases security by around 25%. Reporting unwanted numbers and phishing emails is not futile: “These reports help Google improve its detection algorithms.”
In case of fraud, swift action is required: change the compromised password, enable 2FA, contact your bank if necessary, and file a police report.
Advice tailored for everyone
The basic rules apply to everyone, but the approach should be tailored. For younger users, the focus should be on securing accounts and not sharing passwords. For seniors, emphasis should be placed on unique passwords, 2FA, and vigilance against urgent messages.
Fabrice Jaubert shares his personal experience: after “enforcing” 2FA with his parents, it has now become second nature for them.
A never-ending race
“Security is constantly evolving”, concludes Fabrice Jaubert. Google no longer does today what it did 16 years ago, but the core remains the same: protecting people. “It’s a never-ending race between attackers and defenders. Techniques change, and adaptation is continuous.”
