Google started a new piece of hardware for sale on Thursday known as Titan security key, which is meant for adding another layer of security for online access. But the company had to face some kind of criticism over the production of the key in China by partnering a manufacturer Feitian as per a report from CNBC.

The label on the product shows that it was manufactured in China with letters “Produced in China” meaning which says it all that as every hardware product is produced there and this too was produced in the eastern country. Some experts in the field of security like Adam Meyers from the security firm CloudStrike who was interviewed by the ‘Information’, say that producing such products overseas leaves Google open to infiltration by hackers or even the government of China itself during the assembly process.

Google responded by saying that the hardware which is provided in the security keys is sealed a step ahead before it goes to the manufacturer to guard against supply chain attacks. But apart from this explanation, the company declined to go further in commenting over the issue.

To utilize the Google’s key, you need to first set it up to function with your Google account or any other supported service to act as a second security backstop when you log in. When you enter your username and password during the process, you will be directed to press a button on your key to prove that it’s really you. Basically, it’s a physical version of what is known as two-factor authentication which utilizes two kinds of different steps to verify your identity.

Many such companies like Google have moved forward to offer such kind of addition of an extra step to secure your accounts online which include requiring to enter a code from an app or a text message apart from the basic level of security by entering a password. But as per the security experts, those codes can be intercepted by a determined hacker, particularly when sent over text message. But the facility of key’s signal cannot be intercepted because it works at short range.

Few companies have been utilizing such security level of using security tokens or keys for many years like that of “SecurID” system invented in 1993 and was bought by RSA and marketed to crucial businesses that deal with sensitive kind of information. And now many of us have moved online and due to this reason, keys are becoming popular among the more security-conscious and worried about weaknesses in other two-step verifications systems.

About 85,000 employees of the Google tested the key and the company said in a blog post that there was not a single successful phishing attack on Google after the company began using the process.

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