Digital security can often feel out of our control and painstakingly difficult to manage. 1Password already helps by making it possible to create strong, unique passwords, and new integration with ‘Pwned Passwords’ helps inform users about passwords that may have been compromised in a data breach.
The new feature is built on Troy Hunt’s newly launched Pwned Passwords service that checks passwords against a database of over 500 million compromised passwords. 1Password built a proof of concept integration with the service that lets you determine whether or not your password has been snatched in a security breach that may or may not have been disclosed.
For now, the new feature is limited to 1Password members with access to the password manager online, but 1Password apps will gain the feature in a future update.
Here’s how the feature looks:
And here’s how it works:
- Sign in to your account on 1Password.com.
- Click Open Vault to view the items in a vault, then click an item to see its details.
- Enter the magic keyboard sequence Shift-Control-Option-C (or Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C on Windows) to unlock the proof of concept.
- Click the Check Password button that appears next to your password.
1Password notes that a positive match doesn’t necessarily mean your password has been compromised since someone else could be using the same password, but changing your password to a complex password is recommended.
The feature works without sharing your password with the Pwned Passwords service, too, so there’s no risk of the service itself being compromised and exposing your credentials. 1Password explains more on its blog post how the new integration works.
