Google Makes It Simpler To See If Your Passwords Have Been Compromised By Data Breaches
Wondering if any of your passwords have been compromised in a data breach? Google is making it easier to quicker to find out the answer to broadening the reach of its Password Checkup tool. Once a standalone extension to the Chrome browser, the handy tool is now integrated into the built-in password manager for your Google account.
This is partially an effort to combat the use of weak passwords. As Google accurately points, people have a tendency to use the same password for multiple sites and services, or sometimes add numbers, characters, and punctuation to a core password in order to make the slightly different ones easier to remember.
The password manager that is built into your Google account and Chrome generates strong, unique passwords for all of your online accounts, automatically fills them in when visiting and signing into a site, and keeps them stored in a central place. Now as an added bonus, you can run a scan to see if any of them have been compromised with a single click.
"Today we’re launching the Password Checkup—a new feature built into our password manager that checks the strength and security of all of your saved passwords, tells you if we find they’ve been compromised (for example, in a breach), and gives you personalized, actionable recommendations when needed," Google explains.
To take advantage of this feature, you just need to visit passwords.google.com. Alternatively, you can zip over to your Google account, click on the Security link, and then scroll down to the Password Manager near the bottom of the screen.
The Password Checkup extension is still available—it has been downloaded more than 1 million times to date, with nearly half of those users having received a warning—but now users can run the tool without installing it. Additionally, Google says it plans on baking the extension into Chrome as a permanent feature sometime later this year.
