Google Chrome can now check if your saved passwords have been compromised
December 26, 2023

Google Chrome can now check if your saved passwords have been compromised

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Google has announced that the Google Chrome Safety Check feature will work in the background in the future in order to check the security of user data for various online accounts. Practically, this means that Google Chrome will now be able to check and scan in the background whether saved passwords in this browser have been compromised in some way.

Chrome will also notify users of the desktop version of the browser if they are using extensions that have been flagged as dangerous, if the latest Chrome version is available, or if “Safe Browsing” is enabled to block sites on Google's list of potentially unsafe sites.

„The security check for Chrome on the desktop will now automatically run in the background“, explains Sabine Borsaj in the company's new blog post. It describes that warnings will appear in the three-dot menu within the browser, so that users can take the necessary actions related to unsafe situations.

Additionally, Google is expanding the functionality of the Safety Check option to automatically revoke permissions from sites you haven't visited in a while, such as location or microphone access. In addition, this option has also been upgraded in terms of marking less frequently visited sites that also display an excessive number of notifications and allowing users to quickly disable them.

Google Chrome can now check if your saved passwords have been compromisedGoogle screenshot
Google Chrome can now check if your saved passwords have been compromisedGoogle screenshot
Google Chrome can now check if your saved passwords have been compromisedGoogle screenshot
Google Chrome can now check if your saved passwords have been compromisedGoogle screenshot

Incidentally, the Safety Check feature was introduced in December 2020 and can compare reported data with those exposed in various data breaches. It also checks for weak or easily guessed passwords that expose users to hacker attacks or attempts to crack them, colloquially speaking.

The upgraded function, however, is not the only novelty, as Google will introduce a new Google Chrome option in the coming weeks that allows those with the desktop version to save groups of tabs (tabs) and continue searching on other desktop devices. Chrome performance controls, such as memory saver mode, will also be updated with more information on how they make the browser run more smoothly.