By now, you might already know that Safer Internet Day is today, as we"re on the second day of the second week of February. This year, Google is celebrating the occasion with a new extension for its own Chrome browser, Password Checkup, which will let you know if your passwords have been compromised.
This is done by essentially looking at your login information whenever you sign into a website using Chrome. The extension will securely send your data to Google to be checked against known data breaches, and it will recommend that you change your password if this is the case.
This launch comes not long after one of the biggest data breaches yet was reported, in addition to other incidents such as the recent attack that targetted DailyMotion. Situations like this will likely prompt many to install Password Checkup, which you can do by heading to the Chrome Web Store. If yuo"re concerned about how Google handles your data, the company says the extension is designed so that no one, including itself, can access your login information. Detailed information can be found in the security blog post for this extension.
In addition to this, Google is also enhancing security for your account, specifically for situations where you used Google Sign In to register on other websites. Starting today, those websites can begin implementing support for Cross Account Protection, which gives Google a pathway to report security events to the administrators of each website. Essentially, if you used your Google account to sign into a website and that account is compromised, that page can take steps to protect you as well.
Again, Google says this is designed with privacy in mind, and only very basic information is sent to websites. This means that they"ll only know that there has been some sort of security event and whether your account was hijacked, or if you simply had to change your password due to suspicious activity.
The technology was developed in conjunction with other companies, such as Adobe, as well as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the OpenID Foundation, so that apps and websites can implement it easily. It"s available today, but it may be some time before the feature starts being implemented across the web.