Monday, December 19, 2011

How To Encrypt And Password Protect Your Bookmarks In Firefox And Chrome To Keep Them Secure

How To Encrypt And Password Protect Your Bookmarks In Firefox And Chrome To Keep Them Secure:

We live in paranoid times. Prying eyes are everywhere and these days with high digital I.Qs, they can be anyone. Even your kids. Our diligently harvested bookmarks are resources some of us protect with our ‘lives’. From online backup solutions like XMarks to using full-fledged cloning solutions, we go the whole hog. That’s always recommended, but how do you stop someone from clicking on the Bookmarks menu items and accessing the folder?

We all have some sensitive bookmarks that should be kept away from snooping eyes. Protecting the passwords you use to access sites can be protected with a master password on Firefox. What I was looking for was a way to securely encrypt and password protect my bookmarks. I found two:

Secure Firefox with Link Password

Link Password encrypts a URL and stores it as a bookmark in your bookmarks folder. It functions without a hassle and is a single click operation if you discount the password you have to enter twice for verification. When you are on a page that you want to bookmark (and password encrypt), click on Tools – Link Password, Make new Encrypt Link. Enter the password you want to use. You can do the same to any of your existing links by right clicking on the bookmark in your bookmarks folder.

The webpage is secured and can only be accessed if you enter the correct password.

Link Password also works on entire folders of bookmarks. You can encrypt (and decrypt) all links in one go by right-clicking on the folder and setting the password.

What happens if someone disables or uninstalls the add-on? They still won’t be able to open the link as Link Password encrypts the link with secure AES algorithm and you will need to download and install the add-on again to decrypt it back. Link Password also lets you rename the links. But do remember to decrypt the bookmarks if you are planning to uninstall the add-on.

Secure Chrome with Secure Profile

I haven’t found a solution like Link Password that will protect only the bookmarks in Chrome. But the Chrome extension called Secure Profile enables you to protect the entire Chrome profile you are using. The simple Chrome extension stops unauthorized use of your browser, thus protecting your bookmarks from unneeded access. After installation, you have to set the password for the profile you are using (or the default one).

Every time you start this specific Chrome profile you will be prompted to enter the same password. Entering an incorrect password will close the Chrome window closing, thus protecting your profile. This Chrome extension is very handy because you can set up multiple profiles of the Chrome browser on your machine and protect each one individually with this extension.

All the more, Secure Profile also protects the browser in incognito mode. Just open the extensions tab and check the box that says - “Allow in incognito”.

So far, the only problem I see is that the passwords you enter appear as plain text and not as dots or asterisks.

These two browser add-ons are easily implementable and provide a basic security shield. Of course, if you are ultra-cautious, you can use third-part bookmarking tools like XMarks and Delicious. Industry grade security solutions like TrueCrypt can also be used to make your bookmarks hack proof. Here are a few bulletproof security tips you can consider:

How to Lock Or Hide A Folder, A File Or A Drive On The Computer

4 Creative Ways To Securely Password Protect Your Computer [Windows]

4 Common Ways To Password Protect Your Windows User Account

Do you secure your bookmarks? Do you know of any other way to protect your bookmarks from unwanted access? Tell us.

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