GOOGLE – Mark Risher, Google’s senior director for account security, identity, and abuse stated in an interview with The Verge that passwords are the primary ways people online get compromised, dubbing them “one of the worst things on the internet.”
The senior director stated that though passwords were designed to protect a user, they are the main cause for how accounts her hacked or stolen with Google only having a Password Checkup feature to mitigate such problems but knowing that the statistics show that 52% of people reuse the same password for multiple accounts.
The notion of one password for all accounts means that each account could easily be accessed by attaining one password which Mr. Risher states is the main problem hitting the internet right now.
Data breaches are said to be the main cause for concern in the practice of using the same password as any data, once attained and revealed to hackers, can become the doorway into multiple accounts owned by the same user which puts everything digital at risk.
“We know from other research we’ve done in the past that people who’ve had their data exposed by a data breach are 10 times more likely to be hijacked than a person that’s not exposed by one of these breaches. We have an ethical policy that we will never pay criminals for stolen data,” he continued. “But just by virtue of how these markets work, very often, [stolen data] will bubble up and become available.” a member of Google’s anti-abuse and security research team, Kurt Thomas said..
“What I like security to be — and what I think [Password Checkup] is a good example of — is, ‘how do you make it easier for regular people to do the right thing?. It’s not about alerting you with more and more problems,” he said. “It’s about making it easier for you to do, frankly, the most basic step.” Google’s VP of security engineering Royal Hansen explained why they can’t be too complex in the password protection process.
The Password Checkup tool is their latest in combating the stolen data breach problem where people can have the chance to create stronger and better passwords which the tool can assist with as it accessed a database of 4 billion leaked credentials and checking if the password you opt for has already been used and leaked before.
Google has an advantage in assisting users with their passwords thanks to its vast resources and net scale with tools like Password Checkup and password manager options to help make online security easier for new and old users alike.
