Damon McCoy, professor of computer science and engineering at NYU Tandon and Ph.D. student Periwinkle Doerfler contributed to the research cited in this article.
Recent research from Google reveals that users can enhance their online security by adding a recovery phone number to their respective accounts. Google worked in tandem with New York University and The University of California, San Diego on a yearlong study where they researched ways to combat targeted attacks and other security challenges. The team concluded the study by stating that during their research, simply adding a recovery phone number to the Google account can block up to 100% automated bots, 96% of phishing attacks and 66% of targeted attacks.