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Over the past few years, Google has developed a tool that allows users of its Chrome web browser to quickly check if their online data has been compromised.
The tool, called Password Checkup, is a free Chrome extension, and it has been in use since 2019, with the aim of improving user safety online, as the last few years have witnessed huge leaks estimated at billions of dollars. passwords for accounts on the web. .
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The tool scans known databases of usernames and passwords that have been stolen from websites by hackers and makes them available online.
Google’s password checker encourages you to change your usernames and passwords if they are disclosed by hackers.
It displays a warning every time a user logs into a website using “one of over 4 billion usernames and passwords” that has been compromised.
It is important to change your login information immediately to stay secure. But even passwords downloaded online without an associated username can put users at risk. This means that if you use a very simple password, it is possible that someone else is also doing it and has been hacked.
And hackers buy huge lists of hacked passwords from many different sites because people often reuse them.
This makes it 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.
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“Hackers routinely attempt to log into sites on the Web with all of the credentials exposed by a third-party breach,” said Jennifer Pullman of Google. “And if you use strong, unique passwords for all of your accounts, that risk disappears.”
How to verify your password
Free Password Checker can be downloaded from Google Chrome and lets you know if your account details have been compromised during a cyber attack or data breach.
Once installed, Chrome runs in the background of your browser and checks all the login information you used.
And if your password or username matches Google’s database with over 4 billion hacked credentials, the program will report it.
And the alert pop-up on your screen says, “Password verification has detected that your password for the website is no longer secure due to a data breach. You need to change your password. pass now. “
And if there is a new data breach, the tool will notify you if any of your passwords have been compromised the next time you sign in to Chrome.
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Google claims that all information is encrypted and has no way of seeing users’ personal data, stating, “We have created 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 device,” the company added.
You can download Password Checkup from the Chrome online store. Google is not the only tool to offer these services, as the popular Have I Been Pwned web tool also allows you to check if you have ever been hacked.
Source: The Sun
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