If you are like many people online you are probably using Mozilla’s Firefox as your web browser of choice. If you aren’t using Firefox then this post won’t directly related to you. However if you are… read on.
Do you save passwords to frequently visited websites in Firefox with this dialogue drop down menu?
If so, do you utilize the Firefox master password, which can be set here:
I would greatly advise using a master password. By doing this you are protecting yourself from someone walking up to your computer and logging into a website with those saved passwords, as Firefox will prompt you for this master password during a session of Firefox or after your computer wakes from sleep. This is the first step to amping up security on your mac. However, not having a master password allows anyone who can gain access to your computer the ability to copy and view ALL of your passwords. Let me repeat that. If you don’t have a master password set, someone else can go on your computer and look at all your passwords.
This is simple done by clicking on the Saved Passwords from the above screen and then clicking the show passwords as shown below. If you don’t have a master password set, Firefox will display all passwords, but if you do have a master password set, then Firefox will ask for the password before doing so.
I highly advise that you make sure you have a Master Password set in Firefox, otherwise if your computer or even your hard drive falls out of your possession you are at great risk.
Personally I always have maintained a master password, that is until I began using the app, 1Password, which we will cover in a future post.
