Google Working on Password Generator for Chrome
Google is working on a new password manager for its Chrome browser that would also automatically create strong passwords for users. — The new manager is currently in the design phase, but Google has described the process by which it would work.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is an early-stage disclosure rather than a launch: Google has confirmed only that a Chrome password manager capable of automatically generating strong passwords is in the design phase, with the company having described publicly how the mechanism would work. Even so, the story traveled unusually widely for a design-phase item — PC World, PC Magazine, Slashdot, Hardware 2.0 Blog and several smaller outlets all carried it on or about February 19, 2012, which signals how much interest a browser-native answer to password weakness commands.
First-order effects
- Chrome users would get strong, unique passwords created for them at account sign-up inside the browser, removing the manual effort that keeps weak and reused passwords in place.
- Standalone password-manager vendors suddenly face a free generator bundled directly into Chrome, competing against a feature their customers currently pay for.
Second-order effects
- Websites stand to receive fewer weak and duplicated credentials at registration, shifting some of the burden of account security from site operators' password rules to the browser itself.
- Password-manager makers would be pushed to differentiate on what a browser bundle does not offer — cross-browser portability and features beyond generation — rather than on core vault-and-generate functionality.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, credential security migrates from user discipline to browser default, making the browser the de facto credential vault and giving platform owners like Google leverage over how authentication flows across the web.
The trend: Browsers are absorbing password management as a built-in default, moving credential security from third-party tools toward platform-owned infrastructure.