Google New Chrome Extension Checks the Security of Your Passwords

Wanna know if your passwords were exposed in a data breach? Google’s new Chrome Extension, called Password Checkup, checks for free.

Once installed in the browser, the extension can check any of your login details for breaches. It runs the password against four billion usernames and passwords found on “most” US sites, according to Google. If your login credentials match any in the database, Google gives you a heads up. Meaning: You should change your password ASAP.

Why Should You Regularly Check Your Passwords for Compromises?

These days, password breaches are common. Too common.

The best way to keep your information safe and secure means using unique passwords for each log-in. Why? Let me give you an example.

Say your favorite website has a breach. Their people are investigating, and that takes time. Four months later you get an email explaining that millions of accounts were affected — including yours. It’s been months and you’re only finding out now! If that password was unique to only that favorite website, you’d have less to worry about because you can just change it and move on.

But what if you use that same password for countless sites? That may mean the attacker has access to all of those accounts. For at least the last four months. How much of your information is now vulnerable?

Now, instead of changing the password to your favourite website, you have to change it for every single log-in that uses the same password. It’s a scary hassle to deal with.

How do you avoid that annoyance and data leak? Well, that’s what Password Checkup is for.

How does Password Checkup work?

Once you install the extension, a Password Checkup icon will be visible on your browse bar. Then, when you sign into a site, the extension will automatically check if the password is safe to continue using.

Password Checkup encrypts and hashes your passwords, preventing anyone from seeing the data. If Google detects that your password has been exposed, the warning it sends you is confined to your local machine only. No one else will be alerted.

What’s Special About Password Checkup Compared to Similar Options?

It’s true that several companies offer password creation and management; LastPass and 1Password are two of the most popular options among users. 1Password also checks for password exposure by comparing your password to Have I Been Pwned’s database.

For LastPass, the company has partnered with PasswordPing to check for exposed passwords. PasswordPing’s database contains “multiple billions of carefully indexed records“. If you click on “Security Challenge” in the LastPass navigation, it’ll check to see if any of your passwords are compromised. Then, it’ll alert the email associated with the affected password. This feature is free for LastPass users.

Google’s extension is another method to check if your password is compromised (for free) and gives you access to a built-in password generator too — both of these features are completely free. You could combine Password Checkup with LastPass’ “Security Challenge” for maximum security.

The moment you know your password is compromised, change it!

A generated password from a password manager like Password Checkup is more secure because it’s a randomized assortment of letters, numbers, and symbols. Again: I highly recommend you use a unique password for every website. You don’t want to have to change every password and worry if some mystery attacker is using your information for something nefarious.

Should You Use Google’s Password Checkup?

You should always be proactive about password security. Every week another website is compromised, leaving yourself vulnerable to hacks. The Google extension takes the hassle out of manually checking sites like Have I Been Pwned by automatically searching through their database for matching password credentials.

Not everyone trusts Google though. They have access to plenty of our information through their Gmail app, Maps app, and Home smart devices.

Is Google trustworthy enough to have access to your stored passwords? That’s something only you can decide. But as an extension, Password CheckUp is secure and a viable option to safeguard passwords.