Launched in February 2019, the Password Checkup application allows users to check whether the credentials and passwords they use are safe, or if they are likely to have been hacked. Barely a month after launch, the official Chrome browser extension has detected many anomalies.
Thus, out of 21 million user names and passwords scanned, "more than 316,000 have been reported as unsecured", reveals Google in a statement published on August 15 on its website. In total, 1.5% of the passwords used on the web would be compromised.
Alerts often ignored by Internet users
More worryingly, 25.7% of security alerts issued by the Password Checkup application would have been ignored by users due to lack of time or due to a misunderstanding of the alert, according to a spokesman for the firm interviewed by the Motherboard site.
