In my recent post, “Delete Now!,” I explained through verbiage and a video the importance of NOT saving passwords in your browsers. I based my narrative on my own experiences; those opinions of well-known hackers and cybersecurity analysists; and the NZ Bankers Association which said in a post: “A common mistake that users make is saving their user-id/password in their browsers to make it easier to log in to banking sites.” I stand by my conclusion: saving passwords in any browser is a bad idea.

Since my post, both Microsoft and Google have announced that the newest editions of their browsers will have a feature (in Google Chrome’s case, an expanded feature) that will check your saved passwords against a database of known, compromised passwords. The browser will then urge you to change any flawed passwords it finds. In theory and on paper, this is a good idea. Unfortunately, it’s predicated on you saving your passwords in their browsers. Don’t do it!

I repeat (and add to) what I said in my previous post:

• If you have just a few passwords, write them down in a notebook – don’t keep it near the computer – and make sure you date and record any password changes. Do NOT store passwords in a document on your computer, smartphone or tablet.
• If you have an account which will allow you to use an authenticator app on your phone or tablet, get the app and use that. (Microsoft, Adobe and Google all have authenticator apps which can be used to log into their respective accounts and other ones, too. (For instance, I use my Microsoft Authenticator app to log into Facebook.)
• If you have more than just a few passwords, especially for accounts that don’t yet work with an authenticator, get a good password manager. (See the description under my video.)

As for checking your passwords against a data base of weak and stolen passwords, most password managers will do that for you. If you’re writing down your passwords instead of using a manager, you can check them here: https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords.

If you didn’t read my post, Delete Now!, here’s the video. I strongly urge you to watch it. If you’re not subscribed to our channel, please hit the Subscribe icon in the lower right-hand corner of the video and sign up – there’s no charge.

If you watch the video here instead of on YouTube, you’ll miss out on the description that goes with it, so here it is:

In this video, we’ll show you how to delete saved passwords in all the major browsers. We’ll also show you how to stop a browser from asking you to save a password. Why do we want you to delete browser-saved passwords? Simply put, because saving passwords in your browser is no longer safe. Since I’ve never done any hacking myself, if I have questions about what’s possible, I turn to hacking experts. Recently, I attended a webinar in which famed hacker (now security master) Kevin Mitnick stated without reservation that browser passwords are no longer safe. Like myself, he recommends a password manager. Here are links to the three I recommend. I personally use RoboForm but the other two are excellent, as well.

RoboForm – http://www.roboform.com/buynow?affid=…

Dashlane – https://www.dashlane.com/

LastPass – https://ww3.lastpass.com/

I really can’t stress enough the importance of getting rid of any passwords you have stored in browsers. For the record, when you click on some of the links on our channel, if you purchase, we may be compensated.

0:00 – Introduction – please don’t skip!

2:43 – Google Chrome

4:38 – Firefox

5:47 – Microsoft Edge

6:44 – Opera

7:27 – Safari on Mac

8:22 – Conclusion

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