Your account hacked? Danger looms! Google shows how to find out | How-to

Your account hacked? Danger looms! Google shows how to find out

Billions of passwords have been hacked through malware and other illegal means. You need to find out if you were a victim. Google Password Checkup will tell you if there is a nightmare in store for you.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Oct 06 2021, 16:08 IST
Hackers are stealing passwords from innocent people and using them to pilfer money. Google Password Checkup will tell you if you should take action immediately.
Hackers are stealing passwords from innocent people and using them to pilfer money. Google Password Checkup will tell you if you should take action immediately. (Google)
Hackers are stealing passwords from innocent people and using them to pilfer money. Google Password Checkup will tell you if you should take action immediately.
Hackers are stealing passwords from innocent people and using them to pilfer money. Google Password Checkup will tell you if you should take action immediately. (Google)

A strong password is one of the key factors in ensuring the safety of all your digital accounts. Be it social media accounts, e-retail accounts, bank or emailing accounts, strong passwords protect your digital spaces from malicious hackers who are always looking to gain access to users' personal information for their own gain. Now, Google, back in 2019, had introduced a Google Chrome extension called Password Checkup to warn its users of third-party logins. Then last year, Google sunsetted this Chrome extension and integrated it into the online password manager and in the browser too. Now, if you go to passwords.google.com, you will come across a page labeled as Password Manager and in it, there is the Password Checkup.

How this all works is really simple. If you have logged into any of your digital accounts using Google Chrome, it will warn you if the username and password you use to log in to a website were involved in a data breach. This setting is turned on by default. You can also use Chrome to check all of your saved credentials at the same time. Additionally, Chrome checks your saved passwords and then lets you know if any of them were exposed in a data breach.

As Google explains it, to check your credentials, Chrome first encrypts your username and password. Then it sends the encrypted credentials to Google for comparison against an encrypted list of known breached data. If Chrome detects a match between the encrypted sets of data, it displays a warning that prompts you to change your password.

While all of this happens automatically, Google service users can also check the health of their saved passwords manually. This can be done using the company's Password Checkup tool. Here's a step-by-step guide of how you can check the strength of your saved passwords:

Step 1: Visit Google Password Checkup tool. Alternatively, you can click here. (https://passwords.google.com/checkup/start)

Step 2: Click on the Check Passwords button.

Step 3: Log in to your Google account.

Step 4: Now, Google will show you a detailed account of your password data. This includes the information if your passwords have been compromised and if you are using weak passwords that need to be changed.

Step 5: If any of your passwords are weak, Google will show you the Change Password option. Clicking on this option will enable you to change your weak password to a stronger one.

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First Published Date: 06 Oct, 16:08 IST
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