Everything You Need To Know About the Built-In Google Chrome Password Security Checker
Did you know that Google Chrome has a built-in password security checker? If not, you are not alone! Now that we know, let’s take advantage of it. You might be someone who brainstorms a new password when you are registering for a new website and usually forgets the password after a while! Sometimes even we struggle with coming up with a unique password. To prevent this, you may decide to use a single one for all accounts! On the other hand, some of the services you are using might have the same old password for many years. Since having access to the sites and keeping your account secure and private is crucial, it is something that you should be cautious about.
If you have used Chrome’s built-in password checker, you might be surprised that some of your credentials have been easily compromised. Thus, you would want to change all of your passwords.
Can I trust my Browser to Check Passwords for me?
If you are reluctant to ask your browser to go over all the stored passwords and check them for compromise, here is an explanation of how the process works. In the general picture, the browser needs access to a list of all known compromised passwords and compares them with the ones you use. Browsers first hash passwords and then transfers them to the client or server. By hashing, the browser transforms the password string into another string. This transformation is a one-direction process, which means it is practically impossible to guess the password string from the hashed string. So no worries about your password being revealed to an external service while being evaluated.
Now that you have an introduction to this amazing tool, it is time that we covered how you can find it and start using it.
Desktop Google Chrome
If you are using a Desktop version of the Google Chrome browser, here are the steps to follow to check the password vulnerabilities
- Head over to the
chrome://flags
page. - Use the search box for finding the Password weakness check optional feature.
- Enable the Password weakness check.
- This feature is enabled after a restart. Simply click on the Relaunch button to restart.
- Your browser has to be linked to a Google account to validate saved passwords. You can check out
chrome://settings/passwords
orSettings
>Passwords
menu. - You will come across Check Password which you need to open.
- Once the page opens, you will see a list of previously leaked or unsafe passwords.
- The browser will perform a short analysis which will reveal the passwords that are not safe.
Android or iPhone Checker
If you are an Android user, you will need to follow different steps for enabling the new password verification options on your decide. The following steps help break down what you need to do.
- Head over to the
chrome://flags
page. - Use the search box for finding Safety Check on Android.
- Press on Enabled and tap on the Relaunch button for restarting the browser.
- Now, you need to go to the Browser Settings where you will find Security Check in the settings.
- Then, a quick analysis of the passwords will be conducted.
- Finally, Google Chrome will reveal the passwords that are vulnerable and need to be changed.
Conclusion
After reading the post, you will know how to use the built-in Google Chrome password security checker. It will make your life a whole lot easier and safer! Since you might be using obsolete passwords, which fail to meet the safety requirements, it is about time that you made changes to your passwords. It is necessary, especially for safeguarding personal data.
Besides the built-in password manager, all well-known external password managers also offer this feature. For instance, KeePass uses password quality estimation algorithms for the same purpose. You can read more on the official website. If KeePass is your favorite password manager, make sure to integrate it into your browser with the KeePassHelper Password Manager extension.
Always use a strong password that is difficult to track. It will help prevent any problems in the future. You can even use a tool to generate strong passwords. Make sure to use a different password for each platform so that you do not end up compromising all your data.