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If You Travel, Be Prepared To Prove Identity

We're seeing reports from people who claim to be traveling, and who can't login and access their blogs.

Google appears to now authenticate us using current location, as well as account name / password. We see occasional reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about new security procedures.
I am traveling, and I need to access my Blogger account from another country. I know my account name and password - and I logged in successfully. But after logging in, I am still being asked to prove my identity!!
This blog owner is finding a problem, with Google taking extra measures to protect our accounts and blogs.

Google is trying to protect us, from people who access the Internet from different countries - and who try to access our Google accounts, and steal control of our blogs.

Somebody in a foreign land, accessing your account, may not be you.

If you normally access the Internet from your home, and you travel to another location and try to login to Blogger / Google, you may be asked for additional details, to prove that you are the legal owner of your Blogger account. You may feel like you are being treated discourteously, when this happens.

In reality, Blogger is simply trying to keep your blogs under your control, by preventing people other than you from stealing your Blogger account, blogs, and email account - and possibly, your friends Blogger account, blogs, and email account.

When you travel, you spend time preparing for the trip.

When you prepare to travel to a distant country, you are responsible for getting your travel documents (passport), permissions (visas), maybe make health preparation (update immunisations, get extra medications) - and learn a minimum amount of the local language, before you go.

Maybe you should also spend some time getting your Blogger / Google account in order (update any backup details, such as backup email address and phone number). Even, plan an account recovery, from time to time.

This is an excellent time to try 2-Step Verification.

You might even consider setting up Google 2-Step Verification - and generating a set of one time backup authentication codes.

If you don't prepare your account for travel, you may have to wait until you get home, to post to your blog. You may even be asked for proof of identity, when you get home, too.

Comments

Legacy said…
An acquaintance recently had both her Facebook and Live accounts hacked by a spammer overseas, and I spent a lot of hours helping her get her accounts back.

Her Gmail account received a message from Google that a suspicious log-in attempt (from the same IP as the one behind the hacks of her other accounts) had been blocked.

Good on Google for protecting her account even thought she wasn't using two-step verification. (She is now.)
Tito Dutta said…
I'll ask the same question that I have been asking for a long time. I live in Kolkata (old name:Calcutta), India. If you trace my computer's internet IP address, it'll say I am browsing from either Hyderabad or Bangalore.

So, if I am asked by Google to inform them the common log-in city (a common question),. should I answer Kolkata or Bangalore or Hyderabad? Regards.
Nitecruzr said…
Tito,

Hyderabad is in the center. I'd try that, and hope that whoever checks your "common log-in city" answers knows how fuzzy geolocation can be.

If Hyderabad is a problem, watch your IP trace, and find out what city comes up the most.

Knowing that you have a problem though, you really need to use 2-Step Verification - if at all possible.
If I am traveling it won't help to use the two-step process, because when out of the country I get a new telephone number (different sim card) from a telephone carrier in that other country. What to do in that case???
Nitecruzr said…
Hi Carla,

You use the 2-Step Verification wizard, and generate a set of 10 one use codes, that you can print and carry with you.

When you use up 10 codes, you generate a new set of codes.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/06/use-google-2-step-verification-to.html
Got it. Thanks!

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