[KARAH RUCKER]
GOOGLE IS HOPING YOU’LL HARNESS THE POWER OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM CYBER CRIMINALS.
THE TECH GIANT IS CURRENTLY TESTING A NEW FEATURE FOR ITS CHROME BROWSER, WHICH USES A-I TO CHANGE USERS PASSWORDS IF THEY’RE FOUND TO BE COMPROMISED.
IT’S CALLED “AUTOMATED PASSWORD CHANGE.”
WHEN CHROME DETECTS A SAVED PASSWORD IS COMPROMISED IT’LL PROMPT YOU TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD.
INSTEAD OF HAVING TO DO IT YOURSELF, CHROME A-I GENERATES ONE FOR YOU AND SAVES THE ENCRYPTED NEW PASSWORD IN THE BROWSER’S PASSWORD MANAGER.
GOOGLE MAINTAINS USERS WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TO CHANGE PASSWORDS AND CHROME WILL NOT HAVE THEIR PASSWORDS CHANGED IN THE BACKGROUND WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION.
AUTOMATED PASSWORD CHANGE IS CURRENTLY ONLY AVAILABLE TO GOOGLE CANARY USERS FOR EXPERIMENTAL PURPOSES AND NEEDS TO BE TURNED ON THROUGH THE BROWSER.
THE FEATURE IS REPORTEDLY COMPLEX ENOUGH TO GENERATE PASSWORDS FOR SITES REQUIRING SPECIFIC LENGTHS, CHARACTERS, NUMBERS AND SYMBOLS.
CYBERSECURITY EXPERTS NOTE, MANY PEOPLE USE THE SAME PASSWORD ACROSS MULTIPLE PLATFORMS ALLOWING SCAMMERS EASY ACCESS TO A HANDFUL OF ACCOUNTS ONCE THEY CRACK ONE PASSWORD.
WITH A-I-GENERATED PASSWORDS, THE HOPE IS MORE USERS WILL CHANGE LOGIN INFO MORE OFTEN TO TIGHTEN SECURITY AGAINST HACKERS.
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FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS– I’M KARAH RUCKER.