In times when data breaches and account hacking is on an indefinite rise, Google has come up with some welcome additions to its suite of security offerings for consumers. These two new updates that will help keep your data secure, beyond just Google’s sites and apps are a) Password Checkup, a Chrome extension that helps protect your accounts from third party data breaches, and b) a new feature called Cross Account Protection.
As of now, Google alerts users of possible security breaches on all Google apps that you are enrolled at. If there is a possible breach of password or any other sensitive information, Google resets it on its own and guides you process-by-process on how to recover the same. This feature however, is limited to Google’s own apps and suite. With today’s announcements however, things will change.
Starting today, Google has launched a new chrome extension called Password Checkup. What it does, is essentially mirroring of Google-only security features for almost all of your internet stuff. If you have this extension installed, and if Google detects that a username and password on a site you use is one of over 4 billion credentials that the company knows have been compromised, the extension will trigger an automatic warning and suggest that you change your password.
And you need not worry about your data outside of the regular Google environment, to go to the company. Google says, that it teamed up with cryptographic researchers from Stanford University, to develop privacy-protecting techniques. More technical info here.
The second feature is christened ‘Cross Account Protection’ . Once again, Google is extending its in-house app protection features to other apps that you may use outside of the company’s own set of apps. In a case where an attacker is able to get into any of your non-Google accounts and hack it, the company will now send info and triggers about such events to the third party.
Google created Cross Account Protection by working closely with other major technology companies, like Adobe, and the standards community at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and OpenID Foundation to make this easy for all apps to implement.
For app developers using Firebase or Google Cloud Identity for Customers & Partners, it is included by default. Developers can get started today to improve security for everyone.
