Google launches Password Checkup extension for Chrome on Safer Internet Day

Password Checkup is a simple Chrome browser extension that will notify you in the browser whenever you log in to a 3rd party site using a username and password combination that has been detected in a known breach. After installing this extension, wherever you sign-in, if you enter a username and password which are already compromised in a data breach, you will receive a warning to reset your password.

In light of all the privacy landmines consumers have had to dance around in the past couple of years - like the one in January that exposed 21 million passwords - Chrome's new extension could go far in giving consumers some much needed peace of mind.

In other words, if Facebook or Reddit suffers a widespread data breach (and your credentials are included), the Password Checkup tool will automatically help you take action.

There's also a new initiative called Cross Account Protection.

In light of the recent Collection hacks, the news that Google's password checking tool can compare your username/password combos against a database containing more than four billion leaked credentials is great.

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Find out if your passwords are still secure with Password Checkup.

Given that Google's extension would technically keep an eye on your passwords, the company explains that no data is collected by the company and nobody gets access to your information. "We also designed Password Checkup to prevent an attacker from abusing Password Checkup to reveal unsafe usernames and passwords", the search giant noted in a post on its security blog.

When apps and sites have implemented the new feature, Google is able to tell them an issue that could put a user's information at risk has been detected.

Cross Account Protection has been created by working closely with other major technology companies and the standards community at the IETF and Open ID Foundation to make this easy for all developers to implement. The company only shares the fact that a security event has occurred, basic information about the event such as whether an account was hijacked and this information is only shared with apps where a user's Google credentials were used to login.