Some of you may not remember it, but there was once a time when you could create any password you liked and it did not have to include any capped letters or numbers at all. You could add them if you like, but they certainly weren’t necessary. Most of you will be able to tell us why it became necessary to add them, but for those who don’t it’s entirely because passwords are much more easily hacked than they used to be. That of course goes step in step with the growth of cyber security threats of all sorts, and all of this complexity goes along with the fact that we all have more passwords than we’ve ever had before.
You’ll be able to say the exact same thing at this time next year, and the year after that. Some people aren’t trusting enough and will use a password manager app like RoboForm or something similar. But the majority of us are trusting enough to let Google Password Manager handle the task the majority of the time. There may be a few entryways that are more sensitive than others, and they do always give you the option of whether you want Google to do the managing (and remembering) of that password.
Now if there’s any who keep all of their passwords scribbled onto a piece of paper and tucked into their wallet we’d love to hear of it, but here at 4GoodHosting we are like any good Canadian web hosting provider in that we and everyone we know are perfectly happy to let CPUs handle that. And that leads to today’s entry topic, where we’ll talk about how the new Google Password Manager is improved to the extent that even the most distrusting of us should give it a try.
Superior Management
The overhaul to the Google Passwords platform we are discussing here is part of Google Chrome, and it was announced less than a week ago. What the overhaul is promising to do is allow Android and the Chrome browser password management to communicate within each other, detect passwords that have been security breached, plus better and more intuitive help for resetting those passwords if breaches are detected.
It is true that breach detection was already incorporated into Chrome. However, it wasn’t in place and operational for all places that Google password management existed, and that makes no mention of the fact it was entirely absent for Android. It will be now though and included as well will be an easier way to switch up a password when one is discovered to be compromised and / or stolen. This is a nice new security feature.
Better securing user accounts with better – and tougher - passwords has been a primary focus for security researchers for a very long time now. It needs to be mentioned that there are some industry insiders who believe we don’t even need to use passwords anymore. That may or may not be true, but what is indisputable is that people DO have a habit of coming up with insufficient password protection. Then there’s the way some users will be re-using the same password for multiple websites.
Convenient? Sure, but it makes them vulnerable anywhere and everywhere those identical login credentials are being used.
Better Password Security, Made Easier
You may not have any wherewithal regarding development, but trust us when we say that making a fundamental change to login structures is not easy. So the focus at Google became to make it easier for the average user to create more secure passwords instead. That is now possible via the Chrome browser as well as new hooks in any Android OS.
But Google has gone one step further, and unlocked a new Google Passwords website. This page will allow you to utilize Google password management without needing to be in/ on Android or Chrome, and still coming with the same bells and whistles provided to those who do have Google accounts. Some features are re-rolled out when creating complex passwords for websites, and you will still have auto-form filling for password management if you're on Chrome or Android. Auto-login options are still available for iOS, but using the iOS edition of the Chrome browser for it to work will be required.
There’s more to say about this but blog entries should only be so long. Using password managers rather just re-using the same passwords or choosing ones that may be insecure is really the better choice. All of the information about these updates is available on Google's new Google Passwords page, and if we’re to be honest the functionality of it and the way it takes something off your plate has even more to be said for it now.
