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Chrome Helps Stop Password Reuse

September 5, 2018

Study after study shows that users suffer from password fatigue. The constant password changing and complexity requirements encourages users to use the same password across multiple sites. If one website gets compromised, your password is now exposed (probably on the Dark Web), which could allow compromise on other sites. The latest version of Google's Chrome browser contains a built-in password manager that will prevent you from using the same password across multiple websites. That should help reduce the security headache of compromised credentials. Chrome will now suggest a password the first time you visit a site. The randomly generated passwords will be stored in your Google Account and be synchronized across mobile and desktop versions of Chrome.

Even though Chrome's new password manager is a good step forward, I would still recommend that readers use a dedicated password manager instead. The Chrome implementation only supports websites. Dedicated password managers can contain information for logging on to various mobile apps or apps that you use for your TV such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. You can also store information such as frequent flyer accounts, hotel loyalty credentials, prescriptions, etc. in a dedicated password manager. No matter what you do, don't reuse passwords!

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