I have been using the new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium since it first came out in beta in January 2020. And I can tell you I never looked back to the other browsers I was using from Google Chrome to Mozilla Firefox to Microsoft Internet Explorer as well as the first version of Microsoft Edge. The new Microsoft Edge based on Chromium is stable, works across every website I visit (and that is a lot every day), is fast, and I feel is the most secure browser available.
I am constantly receiving updates for Microsoft Edge as new features are released and am always reading the product group’s blogs for updates. The updates bring new features are always innovative and stand out among all the other browsers I had been using. That said, a feature showed up the other day in Microsoft Edge 90.x called Password Monitor and wow is it a game changer in the world of cybersecurity.
Against the recommendations of any cybersecurity expert, many people continue to use the same username and password combination (or vairants) across so many websites. From their online banking to the online ordering system for the burger restaurant down the street. Every time the username/password combination is used, it must be assumed that sooner or later those credentials will be harvested as part of yet another cybersecurity breach.
With the new Password Monitor in Microsoft Edge, Microsoft has added the capability to harvest their vast array of dark web research and the Microsoft Security Graph filled with trillions of data received each day to warn users if their username and password combination have been stolen.
I upgraded my Microsoft Edge client this week and continued to work as normal. It didn’t take long before I was prompted with these new warnings from Password Monitor that demonstrated this new capability!
- The first time I noticed the pop-up notification was when I logged into my Comcast Xfinity account and received the warning below about the account and password I was using.
- The second time was when I logged into my iFit account, only to get a second warning.
- The third time was when I logged into my Home Depot account, where yet again I was told the credentials I was using have been found on the dark web.
I will save you the details from additional accounts that were identified with breached credentials, but it truly is remarkable about what this new capability from Microsoft Edge 90.x is providing. I love how Microsoft is enabling these rich types of security features to benefit everyone, keeping of us safer online. At the time of this article, no other browser on the market offered this type of warning to users…..simply amazing.
To see a complete list of all of your leaked credentials floating around on the Dark Web that Microsoft Edge has located, be sure to upgrade to the latest version and then open Settings\Passwords\PasswordMonitor to the page below.
I now need to close out this article and get busy changing just a few account credentials. 😉 To learn more about this great feature and how Microsoft is encrypting your password before transmission to the Password Monitor service so no one but you can see the password, please read this blog. If you need help to create new passwords, be sure to review my next blog about the Microsoft Edge Password Generator that is another great example of the rich and secure features Microsoft is building into its latest browser!
