An unofficial blog that watches Google's attempts to move your operating system online since 2005. Not affiliated with Google.

Send your tips to gostips@gmail.com.

December 7, 2011

Google Remembers Your Old Passwords

If you change your Google account's password and you try to log in using the old password, Google shows a special message: "Your password was changed X days ago. Didn't change your password?" and links to this article.


It looks like you've attempted to sign in using an old password. If you remember changing your password, just sign back in using your most recent password. If you remember changing your password but have forgotten your new one, you can regain access to your account by going to our password assistance page.

If you don't remember changing your password, someone else might have accessed your account and changed your password. In some cases, your previous recovery email or phone might be available on the password assistance page for resetting your password. If that's not the case, you'll have the option to fill out our account recovery form to verify your identity and reclaim your account.

To show this message, Google needs to store your old password (actually, a password hash, since Google doesn't store the actual password). This is probably useful if someone managed to access your account and changed the password. Obviously, you'll still try the old password and you won't understand why it no longer works.

{ Thanks, Venkat and Brandon. }

41 comments:

  1. haha. you should edit the title to add hash to it! it's sensational right now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agree with Sushubh: that title isn't good at all. It will do nothing but scare people who only read the title of posts before starting to spread false rumors...

    ReplyDelete
  3. why? just a small check like "IF password WRONG AND datepwdchange < 10 THEN display that generci message" will work. You could say that Google stores passwords if it would give you the abilityi to effectively restore it, not just because it knows WHEN a pwd was changed...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Google's just storing the last date when you changed your password. :p

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Sushubh, John:

    I replaced "stores" with "remembers" to make it clearer.

    @Tambu, Manish:

    Not true. The message is only displayed when you enter an old password.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Any security system worth its salt (pun intended) is going to keep a history of old password hashes in order to prevent the user from re-using old passwords. This fairly standard security measure would be impossible without such a history. Google is simply making additional use of this history to the user's benefit.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice. But how to restore account in case some hacker deletes it?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Facebook does the same thing

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for this information I appreciate it. Have you heard about Acai Berry Select? Its wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I see no harm in that. Active Directory services usually store last 20 password hashes for security reasons ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. can i know what was my first ever password using that?

      Delete
  11. And yet, Google blocks you from reusing a password... maddening.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is really nice for instance when your account got hacked you can be sure that there is something suspicious not just you forgot the new password. It's small but rally good security improvement

    ReplyDelete
  13. I did not change the password for my gmail account, and I am pretty sure that it has been hacked by someone (the same email id and password I used for one more website, which is also not working). I tried all the ways to recover to the account, but failed. After providing the recovery email, or secondary email id which we provide for back up, it sent a password reset link to that account. After going through it, it resulted in creating a new gmail account instead of recovering the existing one. It would be really great if anyone can suggest me how to recover the gmail account, or address this issue.

    Many thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is interesting, but how do you get google to remember your new password without having to retype it each time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. i changed my password when i forgot my old one an new my htc phone is blocked an asking for my old passwork how can i find out wot my old password was help please

    ReplyDelete
  16. my phone was stolen. when i got it bak it had too many pattern attempts. so it wanted me to login in with my google account. i know the email but forgot the password. now i changed the password on my email and it still wont let me in it. i need to find out the password i had first.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Google gives two options for retrieving gmail password. first is using another Email and second is mobile number. if you lose your phone number then you can access verify another email.

    ReplyDelete
  18. HELLO. this no longer works this way. Yet I need to determine just this very information. When i last changed my password. Does anyone know a current way to determine this information ???
    Thank you

    calgo2007@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Check this page: https://www.google.com/settings/account

      Delete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. sorry I want to see my gmail account all password . how it possible.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I need all gmail all password. how it possible

    ReplyDelete
  22. hello

    how can i return old password for my gmail account after reset it , beacuse old password is saved on all my appliactions connecting with my gmial account and when i try to change password its refused it and tell me " Choose a password you haven't previously used with this account."


    please this urgent help

    ReplyDelete
  23. how to find my old password after reset to new password in gmail?

    ReplyDelete
  24. could anyone tell i forget my gmail password and i have no longer access of recovery phone number.so how could i get my password..please help

    ReplyDelete
  25. Google I have my new password in my email account but my HTC has recently been locked it tells me to type in my old password to unlock it and I recently have forgotten it how can I figure out my old password so I can't unlock my device

    ReplyDelete
  26. last day when i tried to open my gmail account, it was shown that the password has been changed 18 days ago.. but i had'nt changed any.. when i tried to recover my account through mobile phone varification.. i failed to recieve the message.. someone has changed ma recovery email also.. so now iam totally stucked.. please help me to recover my account

    ReplyDelete
  27. Want my password to my Gmail account 19montanez79@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  28. my husband used to be free with everything and never kept any secret until recently everything changed so i began to suspect some foul play. he chat on phone for long and when he is done chatting he will clear his history so that i will not find anything. this went on for long until one day i decided to notify my friend about this and that was how she introduced me to her cousin who is a hacker. he showed me several other people who he helped crack password to gmail, yahoo, facebook, instagram, whatsapp and even 6 others where he hacked the account of some major corporation. he has the greatest mind because i never believed he could do it until he proved it to me by hacking into my husbands phone where i found so many evidence to proof that my husband had several affairs outside our marriage. well here is his email address if you need his help cyber_intel007@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. How to recover my gmail password that change by someone else and also change my recover phone number.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Someone else is using my account, and changed my recovery phone number ... how can i recover my account ??
    .I want to use the VERY FIRST PASSWORD I've used to reclaim and recover my account.
    Help me please .

    ReplyDelete
  31. I am trying to recover the password to my account I had since 2012. I know longer have access to that phone and need Goole to verify me.I also use the same address for my Facebook account.

    ReplyDelete
  32. hello peeps!am a certified ethical hacker and a systems programmer who can bypass any firewall,i do job ranging from bank account hacks, school record upgrades, email hacks, facebook hacks, whatsapp hacks,text messages,viber. Just name it and it will be done.Contact me on brownsugarhacker66@gmail.com. Serious people only

    ReplyDelete
  33. I AM from UNITED STATE, my man was cheating on me since last year with his co_worker, i was upset and confused on what to do, i tried my best to win his heart back but all effort was wasted until on 21 of this February when i came across a spiritual man called DR MACK, i saw a many post about his wonderful work and i contact him via his Email and explained to him and he asked for some information which i gave him and he told me that my heart desire will be granted just in 3 days, i was skeptical but i gave me the chance to help me, to my surprise my Boyfriend called me 5 time to tell that he is so sorry and that he wants me back and wants to marry me, everything happened like a dream but i am so happy that i have my boyfriend back and we are planning to get married soon, if you want to Ex back please don’t hesitate to contact____dr_mack@yahoo.com…..

    ReplyDelete
  34. http://www.yahoosuppotphonenumber.net
    Yahoo Support Phone Number
    Feel free to share and get resolved an issue any time any where by letting our technical support team for yahoo mail to know that.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Enjoy some positive status
    short status for whatsapp with us and do not forget to share with friends.!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.