The security breaches are a recurring fact and the filtering of passwords is a bad thing to deal with. That’s why there are extensions like PassProtect that lets us know if a password we’re going to use has been exposed in a data breach. It ended up using bad keys.
This add-on, currently available for Google Chrome , makes it easier for us to know in real time and by means of a pop-up notification in the browser itself if a password we are entering has been hacked previously and, therefore, is unsafe.
How PassProtect checks your passwords
Given that most sites and services require only the strengthening of passwords, PassProtect will help us avoid simple and easy-to-discover keys by means of brute force or dictionary attacks.
Free, open source and secure
PassProtect works through the software of Have I been pwned , the service that allows us to know if any user account identified with our email has been compromised, and makes use of the k-anonymity property to make sure that they are never seen, stored or send passwords through the network during the verification process.
Using it beyond the browser extension
In addition, it is a completely free, open source and secure extension that can also be used on a website to improve user safety. It will be enough to include a single line of code.
Extensions like these remind us that simple passwords are easy to remember, but they involve exposing our accounts in an incredible way . Therefore, it is better to use a password manager , of the many that exist , than to leave the door practically open to a serious security problem.
Summary
This article describes PassProtect, a free open-source Chrome extension that warns users in real time if a password they’re entering has appeared in a known data breach. It explains that the tool works with Have I Been Pwned and uses k-anonymity so passwords are never seen or stored during checks, and suggests using a password manager instead of relying on simple, memorable passwords.
Questions this article raises
- How does k-anonymity actually prevent PassProtect from seeing the real password?
- Is this extension available for browsers other than Chrome?
- How up to date is the Have I Been Pwned database that it checks against?
