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Firefox Lockwise, Mozilla’s password manager, now alerts you immediately if you have reused a password that leaked in a data breach.
Reusing passwords is not a good practice, ideally we would use unique and strong logins for all of our accounts, but it is easily done when you are registered with dozens of websites and services, especially if you created the accounts before starting to use a manager password to keep track of all of them.
Unfortunately, doing so leaves your accounts particularly vulnerable, as a potential attacker may simply attempt to connect the same details at several different sites.
Lockwise (which is now integrated into Firefox as standard, having started life as an add-on) could already warn you if one of your logins was listed after a data breach, so you knew how to change it right away, But the latest update goes one step further, warning you immediately if any of your repeated passwords have appeared in a recent violation.
Stop shoulder surfers
The latest Firefox update also helps protect you from surfers who can wait until you’re away from your desk for a moment to have a coffee, open your password manager, and write down all your logins before returning.
Previously, if you had not set a master password using Lockwise, it was possible to get a complete list of saved logins through the main browser menu. Hopefully it is not a problem that many of us will face while working from home, but many concerned users requested a solution.
Now, if you don’t already have a master password set, Firefox won’t let you see stored usernames and passwords unless you first enter your Windows or macOS login credentials. A small change, and one that should give you a little more peace of mind when you return to the office.