How Does It Work?

When you type in a password into this site, a few things happen behind the scenes to ensure you have useful information while keeping your password secure. Here’s a step-by-step rundown of the process:

1. Scrambling Your Password: As soon as you start typing, your password gets scrambled into a unique code using a process called hashing. This process is one-way and irreversible. So, your original password stays on your device and never leaves it.

2. Asking the Have I Been Pwned Database: With the scrambled code in hand, this site will ask a special database called “Have I Been Pwned” if they’ve seen this code before in any data breaches. But instead of sending the whole code, only first few characters of it are sent. This is a clever way to keep your password secure while checking if it’s safe.

3. Getting the Answer: The Have I Been Pwned database then sends back a list of scrambled codes that match the first few characters this site sent. This site will then check this list to see if the rest of your scrambled code is on it.

4. Showing You the Result: If there’s a match, it means your password has appeared in data breaches and might not be safe. This site will show you how many times that password has been seen in data breaches before. If there’s no match, your password hasn’t appeared in any known data breaches, which is a good sign!

Remember, this site will never see, store, or share your original password. It stays with you.