Secure passwords stored in your web browser by setting up a master password.
For convenience, a large number of Internet users entrust the management of their usernames and login passwords to the manager integrated into their Web browser.
While this is convenient for initiating a quick connection via autofill, special attention should be paid to saving passwords in the browser.
Whether it is Google Chrome or Firefox, this precious data can indeed be very easily accessible to anyone with access to your machine.
On Firefox, open the main menu and click on Logins and passwords.
In the window that opens, a click on the Show passwords button is enough to reveal them.
On Chrome, click on your profile, and go to Passwords.
Clicking on the eye icon will display the content of your passwords in clear text.
However, the passwords may not appear immediately and you may need to enter the login password for your session. If this is your case, you can stop there, access to your passwords on Chrome is already secure.
On the other hand, if your passwords are displayed, it is advisable to prevent them from being accessed by configuring a master password which will be automatically requested each time you try to display a password.
Secure passwords on Firefox
To configure a master password used to protect passwords stored in Firefox, open the browser’s main menu and go to Options (Preferences, in macOS).
In the Privacy and security section, scroll down to User names and passwords. Check the Use a master password option.
In the window that opens, enter the master password which will be used to protect access to all the usernames and passwords stored in the browser.
You can easily check the security level of your password using the dedicated gauge which should fill in green depending on its complexity.
Confirm your main password, and keep it in the back of your mind: if you forget it, you will no longer be able to consult the data in the browser’s keychain access. Validate the configuration of the main password by clicking on OK.
Now, with each new browsing session with Firefox, the browser will prompt you to enter the master password to unlock access to the keychain. The entry of this master password will be required after each closing of the browser.
Secure passwords on Google Chrome
Securing passwords on Google Chrome depends, as we saw above, on the presence or not of a password to connect to the Windows session (or macOS, for that matter). If there are none, access to passwords stored in Chrome Manager is not secure.
However, you can easily remedy the problem and kill two birds with one stone: your Windows session will be protected, and the identifiers stored in Chrome cannot be displayed without the session password being entered.
To configure a password on your Windows session, click on the Start button, and go to Settings.
Then go to Accounts, and enter the section dedicated to Connection options.
Then click on Password and press Add to create a login password.
Enter your password, confirm it, and add a Password hint, to help you find it if you forget it. Click Next, then Finish to validate the creation of the login password for your session.
Now go back to the menu dedicated to Chrome passwords by clicking on the profile button and then selecting Passwords.
Click on the eye icon to reveal a password stored in the browser’s keychain. A Windows (or macOS) security window appears and asks you to enter your password to allow it to be displayed in plain text in Chrome.
Your passwords are now a little more secure. Still, while in-browser password managers come in handy on a daily basis, it’s always best to use a third-party password manager like Bitwarden.
You will be able to set up this solution very easily by importing all the keychain stored in your web browser. Your usernames and passwords will thus be secure, available on all your devices, and you will retain the convenience of automatic pre-filling of your passwords when logging into your accounts.