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Google will automatically alert people if their passwords have been hacked

Google is set to begin automatically alerting people if their Chrome browser passwords are hacked - Alamy
Google is set to begin automatically alerting people if their Chrome browser passwords are hacked - Alamy

Google has begun automatically informing people who use its Chrome web browser whether their passwords have been hacked and exposed online.

The latest update to Chrome includes a feature which scans passwords entered through the Chrome browser against a database of known stolen passwords which have been leaked online.

Reusing a stolen password leaves internet accounts vulnerable to hacking, with cyber criminals able to automatically enter accounts and steal information or use them for fraud.

Google said it will gradually launch this new feature for all Google users logged into Chrome browsers.

The Password Checkup feature was first available earlier this year as an extension to Chrome and an on-demand service, but Google has now decided to allow the feature to run automatically, potentially helping thousands more people avoid their online accounts being hacked.

Google has paused the launch of the updated web browser on its Android smartphone software, however, after it was found that the update could wipe data in certain apps.

The company is now working on a fix for the problem before resuming the launch of the mobile browser.

Cybersecurity experts recommend the use of complex, unique passwords to avoid information exposed in one hack allowing hackers to break into other services.

Many experts also promote password manager software which can automatically generate passwords and remember then for users.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a division of spy agency GCHQ, released statistics earlier this year on the worrying usage of weak passwords in the UK.

More than 280,000 people use “liverpool” as an online password, while more than 333,000 accounts have the password “superman”.

The most commonly used internet passwords are “123456,” which is used for 23.2m accounts, and “123456789,” used for 7.7m accounts.