How Does the Microsoft Edge Password Monitor Work?

The Microsoft Edge Password Monitor is a feature of the Edge browser that monitors your stored passwords for vulnerability from data breaches. If you opt-in, the Password Monitor will regularly check your stored passwords against data from known data breaches and let you know if you’re in danger.

Why Should You Opt-in to Edge Password Monitor?

Creating, maintaining, and regularly changing strong passwords are the most important keys to online security. Microsoft Edge helps in this area by providing a strong password generator, and using strong passwords helps protect you from attack vectors like brute force hacking. The problem is that even the most robust password is vulnerable if a third-party data breach compromises your data.

If any of your passwords are found in third-party data breaches, the Microsoft Edge Password Monitor alerts you immediately. You can then take the necessary precautionary measure of changing those passwords before anyone can use them to hijack the corresponding account.

How to Opt-in to Microsoft Edge Password Monitor

Edge includes the Password Monitor feature, but it isn’t on by default. To opt-in and start using this feature, make sure that Edge is up to date, and then follow these instructions:

  1. Open Edge, and click the menu button (three horizontal dots) in the upper right corner.

  2. Click Settings.

  3. Click Passwords.

  4. Click the toggle to the right of Show alerts when passwords are found in an online leak.

How to Use the Microsoft Edge Password Monitor

Once you have successfully enabled the Password Monitor, it will run in the background without any additional input. It will periodically scan for compromised passwords and alert you if any are detected. You can check for leaked passwords at any time by returning to the passwords settings page in Edge.

  2. Click the red or blue banner to access the Password Monitor.

  3. The Password Monitor will list leaked passwords if it has found any. If it hasn’t, you can click Scan now to search for leaked passwords.

  4. Wait for the scan to finish.

  5. If Password Monitor finds any leaked passwords, click Change.

  6. Edge will redirect you to the website where your password has been compromised.

How Does Edge Password Monitor Work?

Password Monitor scans lists of compromised accounts and passwords and alerts you when it finds your information contained in any public leak. It doesn't, however, assist you in actually changing passwords.

When you click the change button next to a compromised account in Password Monitor, Edge loads the corresponding webpage for you. In some cases, Password Monitor can send you directly to the account or password change page on the website where your credentials have been compromised. In other cases, it simply loads the home page of the relevant website, and you have to find the account page yourself.

Article post on: us.suanoncolosence.com

If you can’t figure out how to change your password on a site that Password Monitor has identified as compromised, your best option is to contact that website's administrator. They will be able to help you with the specific procedure to change your password.

— Update: 05-03-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article How to use Password Monitor & Password Generator feature in Microsoft Edge from the website www.thewindowsclub.com for the keyword password monitor password generator edge.

When it is about online security and privacy, passwords play the most important role, right? The latest version of Microsoft Edge brings in Password Generator and Password Monitor for you. The Password Monitor feature will tell you if any of your stored passwords have been leaked on the web. The Password Generator feature will help you generate strong passwords.

With the current work from home situation, the entire world has gone digital and so have our transactions. There are hundreds of online payment gateways used worldwide and as a matter of fact, our passwords are the only protection to all our wealth and credentials. It is very important to keep a strong password for all your important accounts and also to keep different passwords for different accounts.

We know how difficult it is to create a strong password and even more difficult is to manage different passwords. This is where the Password Generator and Password Monitor will help you.

Password Generator in Microsoft Edge

If you are in a habit of keeping the generic passwords for your account, I am sure your passwords are refused a lot. Generic passwords are very easy to guess and thus are never recommended or approved. So, you have only two options left, either use your creativity to create a strong password or use the strong password generator by Microsoft Edge.

To enable Password Generator in Edge:

Source: us.suanoncolosence.com

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Select Passwords.
  3. Click on the arrow on Passwords
  4. Turn on the Toggle of ‘Suggest Strong Passwords’
  5. Please note that this setting works only when Password Sync and Offer to Save Passwords are turned On.

Once it is turned On, you will see the password suggestion for every new account you create via Microsoft Edge.

Password Monitor in Microsoft Edge finds compromised passwords

Okay so now you have the strongest passwords for all your accounts with the password generator but breaches still happen, harsh world you see. This is where Password Monitor comes into the scene- a new feature by Microsoft Edge which offers the dark web scanning of all your passwords.

This feature lets you scan your passwords for all the recent data breaches that happened. If any of your passwords is compromised in any of the breaches, this monitor will notify you and will prompt you to change the password.

(Images source – Microsoft.com)

This notification will be sent to you every time any of your passwords matches the list of breached passwords. Click on View Details to see which of your passwords were compromised.

You can change the password or ignore it as per your own preference. However, it is recommended to change the password as soon as it gets leaked. If you wish to update the password, just click on Change and it will take you to the respective website.

Besides this notification, you will also see an alert every time you visit a website whose password is leaked. If you don’t want to see this alert, simply click on the ignore button from the Password Monitor page.

Though Microsoft does this scan periodically, you can also scan your password manually just by click on Scan Now button. It takes a few seconds to scan the entire database and you will see if any of your passwords are leaked in the recent breaches.

Turn on the Password Monitor in Edge

  1. Sign in to your Microsoft account
  2. Go to Settings > Profiles > Passwords.
  3. Turn on the toggle saying, “Show alerts when passwords are found in an online leak”.

You could also directly paste the following in the address bar and hit Enter:

edge://settings/passwords/passwordmonitor

If your account is synced in, the password monitor will automatically be enabled.

Microsoft Edge, on a regular basis, keeps checking if any of your passwords were found in a breached list. Edge will scan your stored passwords against various services and databases on the web and inform you if any of your passwords have been leaked on the web.

You will also be offered help to change your leaked password. It will also identify URLs where you have used the same username/password combination and alert you about it.

Furthermore, neither Microsoft nor any other party can track or store your passwords while they are being monitored.

This feature of Password Monitor has just started rolling out and is being gradually rolled-out worldwide, so if you cannot see it in your browser, please be patient it may take a couple of days for you to see it in your browser.

Source: https://www.lifewire.com/using-password-monitor-microsoft-edge-5101600

Article post on: us.suanoncolosence.com

Related Posts

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *