Keep your passwords secure within Firefox

One of Firefox’s long time conveniences that is often overlooked is the option to secure all your username and passwords with a single master password. When you log on a web service such as a forum, a web mail account or a financial institution, Firefox will ask if you want to remember the user name and password you have just entered. Options are to remember the password, not at this time (default option) or never remember it.

If you choose to Remember, Firefox will encrypt and store your credentials (in the signons.txt file). However if some person launches Firefox while you are logged in, he will get instant access to all your saved web sites and credentials.

Fortunately, you can set a master password that protects all your other passwords.

• In the Tools menu, select Options…
• In the Options window, select the Security page
• Click on Use a master password and you will be prompted to enter the desired password and once again to confirm. Now take a while to decide on what your password should be:
• Forget about your name, last name, telephone, birth date, nickname, your relatives’, neighbors’ and pets’.
• A strong password should be between 6 and 9 random characters (no words) and contain capital and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters like ()[]{}#$%^&*!@;:<>
• Here’s an easy way to set a strong and easy to remember password:
• Think about a 6-8 word phrase such as a slogan, song, mantra, poem, etc. For example, this excerpt from La leyenda del tiempo: El sueño sobre el tiempo volaba como un velero. I’ll take the first letter of each word: essetvcuv
• Now capitalize at least two letters. To make it easier to remember which select either nouns, verbs or adjectives. I choose two nouns: esseTvcuV
• Now replace at least two characters for numbers. You can use similarly shaped numbers. For example, I replace first the first e with a 3 (as it resembles E) and u with 1 because un in Spanish means a or one: 3sseTvc1V
• Now replace at least two characters for special characters, once again you can use similarly shaped characters. For example, I replace first s with $, and c with a (: 3$seTv(1V.
• So my password is 3$seTv(1V, a very strong password that Firefox quality meter rates at top quality, and it’s not the hardest to remember for you. Having used these kind of password for some years now I can tell it finally becomes automatic after a few days. Of course you can use this simple technique to set any other  password.
• That’s it. The next time you access a web site which credentials are stored, Firefox will prompt for the master password to autofill the form.