Ever registered on some kind of website using your standard login credentials that you use for almost everything? Yeah, you have. All of us have been there. Let me paint a picture: You visit a new website, you like it, you create an account… And then, after submitting the registration form your browser asks you the magic question “Should I remember this password?”. Sure, why not? It’s quick, convenient and it’s not that browsers are so unsafe that someone would be able to crack that password. Well, you’re wrong.
Why you should NEVER save passwords in a browser
After successfully telling your browser to save your password you can log out without needing to worry about forgetting the password. And next time you log in to your account the login fields are pre-filled with your email address and password, which is obviously hidden behind a row of asterisks. The thing is… your password can be revealed by any person who has access to your computer. And it’s not just Chrome: Firefox, Safari and very major browser has the same security flaw.
How to reveal passwords hidden behind asterisks
As soon as you see pre-filled passwords in form of asterisks it means that you can revel them in less then 30 seconds without knowing a single thing about coding. Simply right-click on the password field, click on “Inspect Element” (Chrome) and you will see the naked HTML code that the website consists of. You will also see something like type=”password“. And once you double click on “password” you’ll be able to edit this field. Now simply replace the word password with the word “text” and there you have it: the hidden password. It’s so simple that even a child would manage to get hold of your password, assuming that the child has access to your computer.
Protect your passwords from being revealed
The answer is pretty straightforward. Get yourself a password-manager. The best one out there is 1Password, which usually costs $49.99, but worth every penny. The best free option is LastPass. Seriously, use a piece of software like this and never worry about forgetting your password or it being hacked by anyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM0fzHxMASQ
