Microsoft Edge update adds password generator and breach monitor

Other features that made it into the update are more fine-grained permission controls per-site for cookies and support for SecureDNS providers.

Microsoft Edge’s new Password Monitor will scan the dark web for lists of leaked passwords and logins and let you change them. (Microsoft)

Microsoft's Edge browser, the successor to the company's Internet Explorer browser has slowly been gaining features (and popularity) over the past year, since Microsoft re-released the browser based on Google's open-source Chromium browser. Edge has now gained a critically important security feature that should enhance user security - a password generator.

While passwords were supposed to be strong, the truth is that most users choose passwords that are easy for us to remember - and therefore also easy to crack or guess, giving hackers access to your email and bank accounts. But Microsoft wants to save you the hassle of remembering strong passwords, with the addition of a password generator that is shipping with version 88 of the browser, the company said in a blog post today.

Generating passwords should be as simple as entering your username and tapping the suggested password. They will then be synced securely across all your devices.  (Microsoft )

Generating passwords should be as simple as entering your username and tapping the suggested password. They will then be synced securely across all your devices.  (Microsoft )

But that's not all Microsoft is bundling into the Edge browser update this week - since companies regularly get hacked too, sometimes even the strongest passwords can be compromised, ending up on the dark web in databases and up for sale to the highest bidder. In order to inform you if your username or password was or is ever detected in a breach, Microsoft Edge's new Password Monitor will scan the dark web for lists of leaked passwords and logins and let you change them.

Microsoft says Password Generator and Password Monitor are rolling out starting today, but you may not see them until a couple of weeks have passed, even if you've updated your browser. Other features that made it into the update are more fine-grained permission controls per-site for cookies, just like you can set site wide permissions like camera and microphone access, and support for SecureDNS over HTTPS. These will be available as soon as you update to version 88 of Microsoft's browser, which should be available as an update or a direct download from Microsoft's website.