If you use a two-factor security key for your Google account, then you might know about the company's Advanced Protection Program, which enables a handful of additional security protections and restrictions. What you might not know is that if you have enabled that program on your account, you can gift a friend a Titan security key set and get a new Nest Mini for yourself, all for free.

Details regarding this promotion are being emailed to at least some participants in the Advanced Protection Program. It's also US-only, though we hear that emails are going out to folks with the feature enabled outside the US, too.

Excerpt from the email you'll receive bearing your freebie code. 

Before you jump into enabling the Advanced Protection Program just for some free swag, you should keep in mind that there are some caveats — this isn't just something you can flip on and off easily, it's a big decision as well as a big bonus to your security. The Advanced Protection Program requires a 2FA hardware key, disables fallback options like SMS-based keys, and restricts which third-party services you're allowed to grant access to your account. If you lose your hardware keys, recovering your account is also a bit of a process, potentially requiring a few days to verify your identity. When you enable the feature, you'll also be logged out of all devices except the one you perform the setup on. That's not a big deal if you only have one phone and maybe a laptop and desktop, but if you're a tech-addicted junkie like me, that could be a day spent by itself going through devices to re-login.

If you're in the Advanced Protection Program, you can fill out this form to send your friends a link for a code that will net them a full discount when purchasing a Titan key bundle. After they enable the Advanced Protection Program on their accounts (which must be done by December 13th), you'll be sent your own code for a free Nest Mini later.

We've confirmed (twice) that this promotion works, with two of us redeeming codes for keys sent from those in the Advanced Protection Program, though the follow-up Nest Mini codes haven't been sent out just yet. The promo's associated terms and conditions state those won't go out until December 16th, though.

Thanks: Cory, Dang