To highlight Safer Internet Day, Google announced the launch of a new Chrome extension called Password Checkup. With it, users will receive a notification via Chrome should your login credentials be compromised on any particular site you visit.
As Google puts it, “If we detect that a username and password on a site you use is one of over 4 billion credentials that we know have been compromised, the extension will trigger an automatic warning and suggest that you change your password.”
Easy enough, right?
Beyond that, Google also announced Cross Account Protection. Honestly, this feature is a bit more focused on the technical backend, so I’ll let Google explain this one.
In the rare case that an attacker is able to find a way into your Google Account, we’ve built useful tools to help you quickly get back to safety. Unfortunately, these protections haven’t extended to the apps that you sign into with Google Sign In.
Cross Account Protection helps address this challenge. When apps and sites have implemented it, we’re able to send information about security events—like an account hijacking, for instance—to them so they can protect you, too.
According to Google, it has worked closely with major technology companies, like Adobe, plus the standards community at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and OpenID Foundation to make it easy for all apps to implement Cross Account Protection.
Now feels like a good time to remind you to safeguard your online credentials, people!