How do I get my browser to remember passwords for secure sites?

Question

I feel that my personal computers -- in my house -- are pretty safe. If someone has physical access to them then I am either okay with that or calling 911 with bigger problem. So I wonder: How do I get my browser to remember passwords for secure sites? I use Safari on my Mac most of the time, but I also use Chrome on my PC, FireFox on both, and IE (occasionally) on my PC. Thanks.

Answer 1

You should consider using a dedicated password safe program like KeePass instead.

Answer 2

Internet explorer and firefox (probably chrome and safari as well) support the autocomplete=off attribute which prevents the browser from saving the password. You would need some third party software or hardware that overrides this behaviour. Here is some sample HTML that they use.

<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="password" AUTOCOMPLETE="OFF">

Ironkey (a hardware+software solution for windows) or 1password for the Mac might do it

Answer 3

I'm in a similar situation where I have multiple computers running multiple operating systems. My solution is to use a combination of Dropbox with KeePass (KeePassX on the Mac). That way I can access my passwords anywhere that I can log into my Dropbox account.

Lifehacker has an article on the subject:

How to Use Dropbox as the Ultimate Password Syncer

I also store some passwords locally in Firefox, ones that I don't feel like typing in over and over again. Just make sure you assign a password to the Firefox password vault, as otherwise it is insecure.

Answer 4

KeePassX

Could serve as a multi-platform password manager.

KeePassX saves many different information e.g. user names, passwords, urls, attachments and comments in one single database. For a better management user-defined titles and icons can be specified for each single entry. Furthermore the entries are sorted in groups, which are customizable as well. The integrated search function allows to search in a single group or the complete database.

KeePassX offers a little utility for secure password generation. The password generator is very customizable, fast and easy to use. Especially someone who generates passwords frequently will appreciate this feature.

The complete database is always encrypted either with AES (alias Rijndael) or Twofish encryption algorithm using a 256 bit key. Therefore the saved information can be considered as quite safe. KeePassX uses a database format that is compatible with KeePass Password Safe. This makes the use of that application even more favourable.

Answer 5

Your best solution is Lastpass for a number of reasons.

1. Supported on Windows,Mac and Linux.

2. Has add-ons for Safari, Firefox and Chrome other browsers can use a Bookmarklet

3. Stores your database encrypted online only the person with the password can decrypt it.

4. Keeps your computers in sync so you don't have to worry about transferring encrypted files or running another application like Dropbox.

5. Can auto-fill or auto-login to websites when you visit them.

6. Because it populates the fields automatically there is less of a chance your password will be intercepted client side by a key-logger, screen-grabber(for visual keyboards) or a malware that monitors the clipboard. This makes it more secure than other password storage applications.

7. It assists you in creating accounts with profile auto-filling, generating secure passwords, and offering to save your new username/password after you have logged in.

8. Has options for multifactor authentication like the Yubikey which is a great solution with the newer yubikeys they can store 1 static password entry and 1 OTP entry so you can use the static password as the main password and the OTP as the multifactor authentication. Just make sure you back up the password in case you lose the yubikey.