Take your passwords off Google Chrome password manager
At least 18 Google services such as Gmail, Vault, Drive, and YouTube suffered a major outage on Monday, totally disrupting business processes around the world. When 90% of Google users reported being unable to log in to their accounts or access passwords during a busy workday, the reliability of the tool got seriously questioned.
Is now the time to take your passwords off Google chrome password manager and other browser-based tools?
Major outages reported on 12/14/20 in Google Workspace Status Dashboard
Remotely working people left without daily tools on Monday
According to the technology giant, the problem was with the authentication system “ due to an internal storage quota issue”. With more than ever people working from home, this downtime affected many businesses across the globe. Some couldn’t access Google Slides and thus weren’t able to attend important business meetings. Some people weren’t able to access their credentials stored in Google chrome password manager when they critically needed it.
In Downdetector.com, a website that tracks internet service outages, even two days after the incident, people were still complaining about the problems with their Gmail and passwords. Many people were concerned about their data safety and further accessibility.
90% of users reported log-in problems on 12/14/20 on Downdetector.com
Businesses started looking for alternatives to Google chrome password manager
Derek McAuley, a professor at the University of Nottingham described the situation – “where everyone becomes dependent (on a single service), a whole sector can grind to a halt.”
One user replied to Google’s post on Twitter, “what about the promise of reliability and high availability?”
Ms. Saladi, the representative from Orchard Inc., commented “We no longer keep things on our computers locally” and therefore admitted that this outage inspired her to rethink her business disaster plan.
Since Google password manager was affected by the outage as well, the concerns started spreading in the enterprise environment. Many businesses started looking for more reliable alternatives to Google chrome password manager or other browser-based tools.
It’s the loss of billable hours and business disruption processes that enterprises seek to avoid at all costs.
Not only the chance of another downtime plays a role – security too
Throughout the past few years, Google Chrome password manager received strong criticism about security risks and drawbacks especially critical for the enterprise. After this incident, the trust rates dropped even more.
The browser-based password managers raise some concerns due to the easy accessibility of users’ passwords and accounts, and the cybersecurity technologies used. For instance, one educational demonstration revealed how easy it was to reveal all the passwords stored in the browser.
The other severe limitation is the lack of secure business-focused password management features in the current Google solutions. Since most employees now work remotely, the tool that lacks basic credential access management, customized password generation, and secure sharing becomes a serious obstacle for smooth and protected business processes.
The solution, recommended by most cybersecurity specialists, is to start using independent third-party password managers (such as PassCamp) that were primarily designed for convenience and security in both personal and enterprise environments. During such a global Google services crash, businesses could still reach their securely stored data.
William Dixon, a cybersecurity expert who used to work on cybersecurity issues for the British government, concluded “What you have is an increasingly smaller number of technology providers that are systemically important. If there is one issue, then the cascades of that are quite significant.”
If a perfect time to take your passwords off Google chrome password manager existed, it is now.
