Google Chrome is launching a new warning that users can’t ignore to keep bank accounts safe
GOOGLE has added a new password security alert that works in real-time to protect user accounts from cybercriminals.
The password improvement is part of a broader security upgrade rolling out first to iPhone and PC users and to Android owners later this month.
Previously, Google only told users if their password was leaked in a data breach.
But now users are getting a change that not only flags compromised passwords, but also passwords that are weak or have been reused.
Passwords are leaked quite regularly during data breaches.
These types of incidents can affect thousands of people at any time.
Just days ago, TV streaming company Roku revealed that more than 15,000 customer accounts have been compromised in two separate cyberattacks since December.
According to Bleeping Computer, the hijacked Roku accounts were sold on the Dark Web for as little as 50 cents each.
It is important to have strong and unique passwords for each of your accounts.
If a password leaked in a breach is used for multiple accounts, those accounts are also at risk.
Passwords: best practice
A strong password ensures a secure account.
The first tip is to make sure you have a different password for each of your accounts.
According to experts at Bitdefender, attacks like Roku’s succeed because “so many people still make the mistake of reusing the same passwords in different places on the internet.”
“Despite warnings,” experts write, “password reuse is unsafe behavior – because a compromised service’s password database can be used by hackers to gain access to other accounts.”
A random password of 20 characters with upper and lower case letters, symbols and numbers is the most secure you can get.
While this can be a nightmare to remember, people should avoid saving their passcodes in their browser.
Instead, it’s important to use a trusted password manager, such as those from Google, which can track and encrypt all your passwords.
Google is introducing a broader upgrade to its Safe Browsing standard protection, meaning it can monitor untrustworthy sites for malware in real time.
Previously, Safe Browsing’s default protection checked the sites you visited against a local list on your device that refreshed every 30 to 60 minutes.
But this did not ensure that web surfers were properly protected, as the “average malicious site actually exists for less than 10 minutes,” according to Google.
This will “compare sites in real time against Google’s server-side list of known bad sites” and is expected to block 25 percent more phishing attempts.
Google Chrome – what you need to know
Here’s a quick guide…
- Google Chrome is a web browser made by Google
- It is cross-platform, meaning it works on a range of systems including Microsoft Windows and Apple’s iOS
- The browser also acts as the core part of Chrome OS – Google’s own operating system
- Most of Chrome’s code comes from Chromium, an open-source project built by Google
- Google Chrome is Google’s general browser based on Chromium, but anyone can build a Chromium app
- The full Google Chrome browser is completely free to download and use
- And according to StatCounter, about 68% of all web browsers worldwide are Google Chrome
- That’s down from a peak of 72%
- Google Chrome was first released on September 2, 2008