Is it safe to save credentials in Firefox when on multi-user system?
I use a computer in a computer lab which is member of a domain. Anyone with their own credentials defined on Windows Server can log on to this computer. My question is if it is safe to let Mozilla save my credentials for Websites or does it compromise my privacy (maybe security) given that Many people use Mozilla on this system? Does Mozilla Firefox have different profiles (say for each user) to prevent this issue? Are there differences between installed and portable versions of Mozilla Firefox in this regard? This is a matter of concern to me :( Thanks in advance
All Replies (4)
Use a master password to prevent access to your stored login information. This won't protect you from keylogging software.
Each Windows account gets a separate Firefox profile. Note that your login credentials can be stored in cookies (cookies.sqlite in your profile folder), which the system administrator has access to.
Firefox Portable Edition keeps all data under one folder, so you can keep it on a USB Flash drive and take it with you.
Can using master password protect me against the administrator's access to my credentials, too?
provided that you choose a strong enough password this should prevent anyone from accessing your logion information by analysing the database in your firefox profile folder that stores your passwords.
as Gingerbread Man has mentioned that won't protect against other means of attacks such as key-loggers or when there is monitoring software running on the machnies that is able to intercept secure network traffic...
Note that websites remember you and automatically log you in is stored in a cookie stored in your Firefox profile, so if you have set such a cookie then you wouldn't need the password to access data on the server.