Mountain View, California-based Google has enhanced its free Gmail Web-based e-mail application by  adding several security features that allow users to keep track of their most recent usage, in an upgrade the Internet giant announced Monday aimed at making it easier to notice any unauthorized access. The new features have made it possible for Gmail users to view all recent e-mail activity associated with their account, and to close all login sessions at once. Making It Easier To Monitor Gmail Account Usage Gmail users who access their e-mail account from several different computers or mobile smart phones can now keep track of the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used to access their e-mail, and to notice if they have accidentally forgotten to log out of their account on a separate computer, Google Gmail engineer Erwin D'Souza said Monday in an announcement on the company's official Gmail blog. "Usually I remember to sign out, but every once in a while I wonder if I really did. Now I no longer have to wonder," D'Souza said of the new ability to close all remote Gmail sessions except the one being used. Gmail has added a reminder at the bottom of the service's main screen showing whether another account is open from multiple locations, such as at home, work, or at a coffee shop. "At the bottom of your inbox, you'll see information about the time of the last activity on your account and whether it's still open in another location," D'Souza wrote. One of the advantages Web-based e-mail systems such as Google's Gmail offers is the ability to easily check e-mail from any computer connected to the Internet, without having to install and set up a stand-alone application such as Microsoft's Outlook or Mozilla's Thunderbird, and along with this convenience can come possible security risks, as until the changes announced Monday, Gmail would allow anyone with the necessary login information to read e-mail without the account owner's knowledge.  Mobile, Desktop and Web Accesses Shown In addition to the brief main-screen remote login notice, Google has added a detailed section showing further information about a Gmail user's account, including a list of all open sessions with the IP address of each, and the date and time when each session began. The new page of details also shows how each Gmail session was accessed, such as through a Web browser, from a mobile phone, or from a traditional desktop e-mail application using the POP3 (Post Office Protocol) method. "The top table, under 'Concurrent session information,' indicates all open sessions, along with IP address and 'access type' -- which refers to how email was retrieved, for example, through iGoogle, POP3 or a mobile phone," D'Souza said. The new Google account activity listing page also shows the IP address of the computer currently being used to access Gmail, making it easier for users to spot changes. Although most Internet users don't have dedicated static IP addresses -- where the series of numbers assigned by an Internet service provider (ISP) remains constant -- many broadband subscribers end up with ones that don't change frequently. Google Adds Security Features To Its Gmail Web-based Email Service D'Souza said that the new information would help to "verify that all the Gmail activity was indeed mine," and noted that Google recognized the highly personal nature of e-mail used for  everything from "bank alerts to love letters." Google began implementing the new security features to Gmail users in a rolling release that was expected to take effect for all of the service's users using the latest version over the next several days. "We are in the process of rolling this feature out to the latest version of Gmail, which is available for Firefox and Internet Explorer 7," D'Souza said. The ability to log out of all active sessions aside from the one being used has been available in other Web-based programs, such as the instant messaging service of Time Warner's AOL. Some privacy analysts have called on Google to add a detailed login history function to Gmail, that would show every access to the service, and not just the most recent activity as the changes implemented Monday have done. On Thursday Google will allow Gmail users to begin testing additional new features. Related Links:
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