Hands on with iOS 14’s New Data Breach Notification Feature
With the release of iOS 14, Apple has introduced a new feature that warns users when their stored passwords have been compromised in data breaches.
iOS includes the Keychain password manager that allows users to save credentials and automatically fill them into login forms on sites and apps.
The password manager can be found under Settings > Passwords, and when accessed, allows you to see all of your saved passwords or add additional ones.
In previous versions of iOS, the Keychain password manager would alert users if they were using a password that was easy to guess or crack and would prompt you to change it.
iOS 14 adds data breach notifications
With the release of iOS 14, Apple will now check your stored credentials against a list of known data breaches.
When performing this check, iOS “uses strong cryptographic techniques to regularly check derivations of your passwords against a list of breached passwords in a secure and private way that doesn’t reveal your password information — even to Apple.”
If an account has been detected as breached or uses an easy to guess password, a ‘Security Recommendations’ option will appear.
If your accounts are just using easy passwords, the number in this box will tell you how many accounts have issues.
If there is a red exclamation sign, as shown below, then that means you have an account that has been compromised in some manner and needs immediate attention.
Also Read: 8 Simple Ways To Improve Your Website Protection
If you click on the ‘Security Recommendations’ button, you will be brought to another page that lists all of your insecure passwords.
Clicking on a password will either tell you if its easily guessed, compromised in some manner, or been found as part of a data breach.
Keychain will then prompt you to change your password, which will open the site to either the password reset page or its homepage.
While BleepingComputer has not been able to trigger a notification, this feature is also triggers when logging into sites and apps with compromised credentials.
BleepingComputer reports on many data breaches, and we can easily say that it has been a bad year with the number of sites that have become compromised.
With data breaches becoming so common, this is a great feature as it protects not only your account, but also your finances, credit history, and credit card info, which could be accessed by attackers.
Also Read: How To Check Data Breach And How Can We Prevent It
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