Mozilla: Firefox 76 Extends Password Protection

Mozilla Firefox developers have released version 76 of their browser. Major innovations in the current release relate primarily to the new Lockwise built-in password manager. For the first time, this now also protects saved passwords from unwanted third-party access, even if users have not assigned a master password. The master password for Firefox, of course, can still be used, even if the browser doesn’t force it.

The browser now uses the built-in functions of Windows and MacOS for the new password protection. Users must authenticate in the dialog box of passwords saved in the browser with the system user password. The function is useful for situations where the screen lock is not activated. The feature is not yet available on Linux.

Additionally, Mozilla has further expanded the password manager features. For example, generating random passwords for logins and data storage should also work more reliably for services that previously could not be used. Additionally, the browser now displays warnings when a saved password has also been used for a website affected by a data breach.

For picture-in-picture video mode, Firefox now supports maximizing video by double-clicking and, as an experiment, also forcing HTTPS connections on user request. This requires the option dom.security.https_only_mode in about: config be activated Thanks to some settings, Jitsi Meet should now work better in Firefox. The same applies to the Zoom web client, which can now be used thanks to support for audio worklets.