Picking a good password has become a bit of a minefield. It needs to be memorable, but not obvious, may require the use of specific types of characters, and of course, you should never reuse the same password for more than one login. Password managers have therefore become essential, and there's a growing number to choose between. However, 1Password just added a very useful new feature that makes it stand out from the crowd.
As well as always attempting to pick unique passwords, there's another problem to overcome: breached passwords. Systems are always being hacked and we regularly hear about data being stolen which includes user passwords. As 1Password points out on its blog, there are now over 500 million breached passwords out there. Microsoft regional director and MVP Troy Hunt collected them altogether in a Pwned Passwords list, and 1Password decided to take advantage of it.
As the video above demonstrates, using 1Password now allows you to check to see if a password you choose/use is present on the Pwned Passwords list. If it is, pick another because that one is not offering you the same level of security a truly unique and unbreached password will.
For now, the feature is a proof of concept, but one that is available to anyone with a 1Password membership. To try it, simply sign into your 1Password account, open your vault, click one of the entries, then type Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C to unlock it. A "Check Password" button will then become available next to the password, which you can click to check it against the breach list.
Eventually, 1Password intends to make this into a feature, stating "In future releases we’ll be adding this to Watchtower within the 1Password apps, so you can see your pwned passwords right in the 1Password app you use every day. As cool as this new feature is, we would never add it to 1Password unless it was private and secure."