Over the years, Google has developed a tool that allows users of its Chrome web browser to check if their online data has been compromised.
The tool, called Password Checkup, is a free Chrome extension, and it’s been in use since 2019, in an effort to increase the security of online users, as billions of passwords have been estimated for accounts on the Web in recent years. .
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The tool scans a known database of usernames and passwords stolen from websites by hackers and makes them available online.
Google’s Password Checkup tool encourages you to change your username and password if they are leaked by hackers.
Whenever a user logs into a website using “one of more than 4 billion usernames and passwords”, it displays an alert.
It is important to change your login details immediately to stay safe. But even passwords uploaded online without usernames can put users at risk. Meaning, if you’re using a very simple password, someone else may be doing it, and it may have been hacked.
And hackers buy large lists of hacked passwords from many different sites because people reuse them frequently.
It is therefore more likely that hackers can gain access to an account by forcing a long list of “known” hacked passwords, rather than trying to use random letters or numbers.
Google’s Jennifer Pullman said, “Hackers routinely attempt to log into sites on the Web, with each credential exposed through third-party breaches. If you use strong, unique passwords for all of your accounts use, that risk goes away.”
how to check your password
Free Password Checkup can be downloaded to Google Chrome and lets you know if your account details have been compromised in a cyber attack or data breach.
Once installed, Chrome runs in the background of your browser and checks any login details you have used.
And if your password or username matches Google’s database of more than 4 billion hacked credentials, the program will flag it.
And an alert pop-up on your screen says: “Password Checkup has detected that your password for the website is no longer secure due to a data breach. You should change your password now.”
And in the event of a new data breach, the tool will notify you if any of your passwords have been tampered with the next time you sign in to Chrome.
Google claims that all information is encrypted, and there is no way to view users’ personal data, saying: “We’ve built a password checkup so that no one, including Google, can see your account details.”
“Password Checkup was designed with privacy in mind. It never reports personally identifiable information about your accounts, passwords or devices,” the company said.
You can download Password Checkup from the Chrome Webstore. Google isn’t the only tool that offers these services, as the popular web tool Have I Been Powd also allows you to check if you’ve been hacked before.
