Secure your passwords in Firefox: a security tip for the new year

It’s pretty common for people to use the “remember my password” option in web browsers such as Firefox. But do you realise just how easy it is for someone else to then see all your passwords?

In Firefox go to Tools / Options / Security, then click on Saved Passwords and then on Show Passwords. Bingo – all your passwords are there in plain text. OK if you’re the only person who goes near your computer, but not so reassuring in other circumstances. (These are the menu options for Firefox v3. They are slightly different in earlier versions.)

There’s a simple way to protect those passwords though. That’s to add a master password so that you can only see the actual passwords if you first know the master password.

You do this on that Security menu. Click Use a master password, enter one and you’re now that bit securer. One side effect: in future, after each time you have started up Firefox you will be prompted for the master password the first time you rely on it to recall a password for you.

11 Comments to “Secure your passwords in Firefox: a security tip for the new year”

• Grant Schapps Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 10:01 am

  Many thanks for the tip

• Liam Pennington Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 11:27 am

  I had no idea Firefox did this! I moved to FF after being a humble, loyal servant to IE for nearly 10 years, after the great (newest) IE security scare.

  When I go home tonight, that’s the first thing to do!

• confused Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 11:32 am

  What’s a firefox? Should activists know about it?

• Barry Stocker Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 12:14 pm

  Dear Confused

  I’m presuming that you are genuinely confused rather than sarcastic.

  Firefox is the most popular webbrowser after Internet Explorer (which is the browser that comes with every computer that runs Windows). Unlike Explorer it also runs on Apple Macs and the Linux operating system.

  Most people who have tried Firefox prefer it to Explorer and I would say it is the best browser to use with Windows. It is more advanced than Explorer in its features, it is very easy to download extra functions and different themes for its appearance. It is fast and is easier to download new versions.

  It can be downloaded with great ease from
  http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

  Do yourself a favour, don’t assume that what comes with Windows is the best or only application you can use. There is no cost and no risk in downloading FF, and then working out whether you prefer it to Explorer. Personally I prefer Apple’s Safari browser on my Apple Mac and there is a version of Safari for Windows, http://www.apple.com/safari/. It is the most elegant and aestetic browser around, but the Windows version is not as good as the version for the Mac operating system.

  Also try out
  Opera http://www.opera.com/
  GoogleChrome http://www.google.com/chrome

  It’s easy and safe to download and try out different browsers and could lead to big improvements in your computing user experience and productivity.

• Andy Hinton Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 3:53 pm

  “In Firefox go to Tools / Options / Security …”

  Or, in Linux (or at least my distro, dunno about others), go to Edit / Preferences / Security.

  Sorry to be picky!

• Barry Stocker Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 4:14 pm

  Good point from Andy, I’ve just checked Firefox on my Mac (OS X)

  Click on File, the Preferences, then Security, then tick box for ‘Change master password’.

  Mac users who use Firefox as their primary browser might need to be reminded that Safari saves passwords on the harddrive through the Keychain application, which requires use of a master password in order to access stored passwords, in its default setting.

  Mozilla’s Camino browser (which like Firefox uses Gecko for rendering) for Mac only also integrates with Keychain.

• Barry Stocker Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 4:17 pm

  Mac users who want to try the Camino browser should go to
  http://caminobrowser.org/

• Mark Pack Says:
  2nd January 2009 at 5:17 pm

  Thanks for the extra information Barry, and fair point Andy. Though perhaps I can plead the defence that those who use Linux already know what they’re doing

• tom Says:
  7th February 2009 at 5:47 pm

  mine doesn;t let me choose the show password option

• Wendy Says:
  12th February 2009 at 7:08 pm

  This was a great tip. Is there a way to prevent other users of my Mac from clearing my browsing cache without my permission? In Firefox, Safari, or Omniweb?

• Hywel Says:
  12th February 2009 at 7:41 pm

  Set them up their own user account? Then they’d have their own cache, passwords etc.

  Also means (if you don’t make them administrators) that they can’t install software without your approval.