To make your Google Accounts even more secure, Google has today announced a new free-to-install Chrome extension ‘Password Alert’, which helps you protect from impending phishing attacks by hackers.
Once you’ve installed it, Password Alert will show you a warning if you type your Google password into a site that isn’t a Google sign-in page. This protects you from phishing attacks and also encourages you to use different passwords for different sites, a security best practice.
To start using the plugin, you can head straight to Chrome’s Extension Store and download it. Once you’ve installed and initialized Password Alert, Chrome will remember a “scrambled” version of your Google Account password.
If you type your password into a site that isn’t a Google sign-in page, Password Alert will show you a notice like the one below. This alert will tell you that you’re at risk of being phished so you can update your password and protect yourself.
To detect a potential phishing attack, Password Alert tries to detect fake Google sign-in pages to alert you before you’ve typed in your password. To do so, Password Alert checks the HTML of each page you visit to see if it’s impersonating a Google sign-in page.
Password Alert is also available to Google for Work customers, including Google Apps and Drive for Work. Your Google For Work Administrator can install Password Alert for everyone in the domains they manage, and receive alerts when Password Alert detects a possible problem.
