Google's New Free Weapon to Fight Hackers

— -- Google has introduced another weapon in the arsenal to fight phishing.

Password Alert, the search engine giant's open source extension for Chrome, was released today with the goal of preventing phishing attacks that could leave a person's digital private life exposed to hackers.

The extension works by storing a scrambled version of a user's password.

A Google account holder who has downloaded the extension in Chrome will then receive an alert every time they type their Google password into a site that isn't a Google sign-in page.

An alert will let the user know they are vulnerable and should change their Google password to ensure their account information remains private.

While the extension has been implemented to protect Google accounts, its open source code means it can be adapted for future uses to make sure a person's other passwords stay protected.

As many as 2 percent of Gmail messages are fake emails designed to trick people into giving up their passwords, according to Google. The search giant found that the most effective of the scams succeed 45 percent of the time.