Searches related to online protection growing in India: Google

Online search related to changing passwords has grown by 20 percent, while those related to two step verification jumped 97 percent over the last year as an increasing number of Indians are becoming cautious about online security and protection of their data, technology giant Google on Wednesday said. Google India, which has rolled out new features and resources to protect users online, said India is adding five million new users every month and is expected to have a userbase of 'connected' Indians at 500 millions online by 2018-2019. "With an increase in the number of users coming online and rise in the penetration of smartphone users in India, we at Google are committed to offering users a safe Internet experience," Google India Director Trust and Safety Sunita Mohanty said in a statement.

It is more important now than ever before to ensure the data and profiles of these users are safe online, she added. Google will be driving multiple initiatives to drive awareness about online safety among Indian internet users, including allowing them to take quick security check-up and allow review and management of Google Account's security settings, it said. According to Google Trends, in the past year, there have been 20 percent more searches for 'Change Password' and 97 percent more searches for 'Two Step Verification'.

Also, there has been 591 percent more searches for queries like 'How to track a lost phone', the statement said. To spread awareness and encourage the users to utilise the existing tools to ensure a safer internet experience, Google is offering its users 2GB of extra Google Drive storage on completion of the security check-up by February 11. This storage can be used across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos.