You made it! This is the last part in our five-part series. You are just a few short steps away from drastically improving your overall cybersecurity. We wanted to thank you in advance for going through these steps, and if you are finding this article for the first time, be sure to click on #Password Guide at the bottom of this page to see all of the other posts in the series.
What we are covering:
- Create a few strong master passwords
- Choose a primary email that governs your accounts
- Secure that email with a new, strong password
- Choose a Multi-Factor Authentication app
- Set up Multi-Factor Authentication on your primary email
- Select and set up a password manager
- Update every account, secure it, and log it in the password manager
- Delete old passwords stored in your browser
- Maintain the course and continue to practice good cybersecurity hygiene!
Step Eight: Remove Your Old Passwords from Your Web Browser and Stop Your Browser from Storing Passwords
You might think you are done, especially now that all of your passwords are updated, secure, and logged away in your new password manager. Now you just need to tell your web browser to stop storing your passwords, since you only want your password manager doing that for you.
Why Shouldn’t We Trust Our Web Browser to Save Passwords?
While it’s a nice convenience to have your web browser log you into your accounts for you, there are some pretty hefty risks. It’s actually pretty easy for cybercriminals to hijack your browsing session with malware, which can give them access to passwords stored in the browser. With the password managers we suggested, it’s much more difficult as all of the data is encrypted and locked down.
Now that you have a password manager set up, you should remove any old information your web browser might have stored and disable its ability to store passwords moving forward.
Removing Passwords from Google Chrome:
Open Google Chrome, click the three-dot menu at the top right and go to Passwords and Autofill > Google Password Manager. From there, click Settings.
Click the Delete data button next to Delete all Google Password Manager data.
Then click the toggle switch next to Offer to save passwords and passkeys so that it is turned off.
Removing Passwords from Microsoft Edge:
Open Microsoft Edge, click the 3-dot menu at the top right and go to Settings > Profiles > Passwords.
If you have passwords stored in Microsoft Edge, it will list them here. Delete them all.
From there, click Settings.
Make sure Offer to save passwords is set to off.
Removing Passwords from Mozilla Firefox:
Open Firefox, click the hamburger menu at the top right and go to Passwords, or go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Logins and Passwords > Saved logins. There should be an option to Remove All Passwords.
Toggle Ask to Save Logins and Passwords for Websites to off.
Removing Passwords from Safari:
Open Safari, go to Preferences and click Passwords. You can delete each password record individually. On a Mac, you can select all of the passwords and delete them all at once as well.
Now go to the Safari menu and go to Preferences, and select AutoFill. You can turn off all the AutoFill settings to prevent Safari from storing usernames, passwords, and credit card information.
Step Nine: Maintain the Course!
Congratulations! We seriously mean that. It’s no small task to sit down and get your digital life in order the way you did (presuming you followed all of the steps in this 5-part series).
All that’s left is to maintain the course. Always make sure new passwords get put into your new password manager, and when you need to update a password, it gets logged away.
If you create new accounts for additional websites or services, be sure to let your password manager generate the password and log it away, and be sure to set up multi-factor authentication.
Keep your password manager secure—every 6-to-12 months you should update the password to it. The password managers we suggested will all have tools and utilities that might warn you if there is an account with a weak or duplicate password, so be sure to follow any suggestions the application has.
Just think… no more rustling through stacks of paper, old binders, or curled-up sticky notes to find passwords, no more hunting down login credentials! On top of that, you’ve made yourself much more secure and made significant efforts to clean up your cybersecurity hygiene.
Great work!
Did You Find This Guide Helpful?
If so, please share this with your friends, colleagues, family, and anyone else who could benefit from getting their security in order. We hope this series can help many people get their accounts under control! If you have any feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Don’t Forget to Check Out the Other Parts of This Guide!
This is a five-part guide! Head on back to our blog to see the rest of these articles. You can also click on #Password Guide below to see all of the parts that are currently published.