Why does Google doubt my identity?
Q I sometimes receive warnings from Google that my account has been accessed “from a new device”, and I should check it out. Each time I investigate, the IP address given is correct. However, the device is always the same – my desktop PC, which I use every day. Is this just a poorly worded warning, or is it a standard occasional alert that goes out automatically every few weeks? As well, when I check to find my location suggested by the IP address it is sometimes miles away from where I live, which adds to the confusion! How accurate is the IP address supposed to be? Any help in clearing up the confusion would be welcome. Jack Woods
A Well, there’s quite a lot going on here. First, it seems likely that your internet service provider (ISP) is issuing you with ‘dynamic’ IP addresses. Simply, this means that your IP address changes every now and then – when you restart your router, for example, or to a schedule decided by the ISP. It could be daily, weekly or randomly.
That’s not uncommon, but it could be feeding into this ‘problem’: Google’s security alerts are triggered not only by the appearance of new devices – or apparent new devices – but also existing devices that connect using a new IP address. If you consider it a annoyance then you might be able to request from your ISP a static IP address, but you’ll typically have to pay extra for it.
However, these messages can also be generated in other ways, or because of a combination of factors. When you log into a Google service like Gmail, for example, a number of cookies will be stored on your PC’S drive. These help both to speed future logins and also to enable Google to identify the connecting device. If you regularly clear out your cookies – or use automated software to do this – then your PC could appear to Google as a ‘new’ device. There’s no ‘solution’, as such, other than to take care to preserve at least your Google cookies.
In the Chrome browser, for example, you can clear cookies selectively. To do this, first click the menu button (three dots, top right), followed by Settings. Now scroll down to find and then click Advanced, then click ‘Site settings’ (see screenshot left), followed by Cookies and then ‘See all cookies and site data’. Finally, click the bin icon next to the cookie you want to delete (see screenshot above).
Finally, and since you asked, another word on dynamic IP addresses. There’s only a limited number of IP addresses, which are issued to ISPS in blocks. Larger ISPS control many blocks, with each range reflecting a particular geographic region. Typically, an ISP will endeavour to issue you with an IP address that corresponds to where you live. However, there’s no guarantee of this, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility to get an IP address that pinpoints your location many miles away – or even in a different country.