Google develops Chrome password-generating toolFebruary 20, 2012 - 19:05 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Google is developing a password-generating tool that will bolt into its Chrome browser, The Register reported. The technology is designed to painlessly create hard-to-guess passwords when users sign up to websites. Whenever a site presents surfers with a field requiring a password, Chrome will display a key icon, giving users the option of allowing the browser to generate the secret for them. This password, provided a user accepts it and it meets the site's security criteria, is reused next time the site is accessed. Google is positioning the technology as an interim workaround for the well-known shortcomings of asking humans to come up with memorable non-trivial passwords, until more websites support OpenID. The ad brokering giant neatly summarises the pitfalls of password use that makes its tool potentially useful: Passwords are not a very good form of authentication. They are easy to use but they are trivial to steal, either through phishing, malware, or a malicious/incompetent site owner (Gawker, Sony, etc.) Furthermore, since people are so apt to reuse passwords losing one password leaks a substantial amount of your internet identity. The interim solution, while easier for some than using existing browser-based tools (Password Manager and Browser Sync), is certainly not without its shortcomings, which Google is trying to resolve or minimise. The technology works using auto-complete. So any site that omits support for auto-complete can't be protected. "Maybe we can get users to re-authenticate to the browser before logging into such sites," a post on Google's Chromium developer blog suggests. Google plans to enable users to see and perhaps export or print saved passwords from a new web service. Access to this feature is likely to be protected by insisting that users switch on two-factor authentication schemes (perhaps requiring a code from an SMS sent to a registered mobile as well as a password) before allowing access to the technology. Using Chrome to generate passwords might make Google an attractive target if the credentials are stored in the Chocolate Factory's cloud. Google downplays such concerns, arguing that there's already a bullseye painted on its back. "Google is already a high-value target so this shouldn't change much," it notes. "Moreover it's easier for us to make logging into Google more secure via StrongAUTH than have every site on the internet secure itself. At some point in the future it might also be possible for us to automatically change all of a user's passwords when we realise that their account is hijacked." Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |