Google decided to celebrate Halloween and the final day of Cybersecurity Awareness Month by introducing a new risk assessment every time you try to log in to your Google account. The knock-on effect being, JavaScript is now required to sign in. No JavaScript? No access.

Attempting to sign in with JavaScript disabled in your browser will result in a "Couldn't sign you in" message appearing, suggesting JavaScript either isn't supported by your browser or turned off. The only solution is to turn it back on or use a more modern browser. The good news is, there's plenty of choice with Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Vivaldi, and even Internet Explorer offering support and JavaScript turned on by default.

Google doesn't see this demand for JavaScript as being a big problem because according to the search giant only 0.1 percent of Google Account users turn it off. The internet is becoming increasingly JavaScript-reliant anyway, so it's unlikely that tiny percentage will grow in the future.

There's no details on what Google's risk assessment actually entails, and I don't expect any to be forthcoming. Why would Google publicly share how it's checking the security of a sign-in process? That would only make it a weaker process as the more information an attacker has about how it works, the better the chances of them finding a way to circumvent it.

Other improvements Google made recently to help protect your account include an automatic Security Checkup process which assesses your devices and suggests ways security could be improved. For example, highlighting a device doesn't have a lock-screen enabled, or an old device that is still logged in and offering to log it out with a tap. There's also more notifications whenever data is going to be shared with an app or website.

Finally, there's a new process if unauthorized activity is detected on your account. Google will now take you through verifying security settings, securing any other accounts you control, checking financial activity across credit cards, Google Pay, and other payment services, as well as checking your content on Google Drive and Gmail.