How to view my password on this site?

twopenny

Hi, I notice that although my email/password is saved it's not the word that appears in the visible box  when I click on sign in.

It's several digits longer.

Tried though edit in my profile but that just shows dots. Right clicked on front screen and profile but I can't find a way to view it.

I'd like to have a record of it for working on other/new computers.

Any way to make it visible please?

MeteredOut

When you say it is several digits longer, do you mean the masked password? ie. not showing the actual letters. If so, many sites do that so as not not give away a password length.

As for getting the password, which browser do you use? You can normally find saved site passwords under Settings/Preferences, then something like autofill/passwords/security.

DullGreyGuy

twopenny said:

Hi, I notice that although my email/password is saved it's not the word that appears in the visible box  when I click on sign in.

If it's saved then it's saved in the password manager on your computer/browser. Will be easier to look for it there as most do allow you to reveal the saved passwords whereas there is no obligation for a website to have the facility to show it.

What browser are you using? 

twopenny

Thanks, I'm using Firefox.

That's brilliant thanks

I found them once I knew it was there to look for and that's really useful and of course, the miniute I saw the word I remembered it - there were some others that I hadn't recorded too. Thought I was efficient but there's so darn many sites these days that need them and when there were few I didn't bother to keep a record.

IvanOpinion

No website should ever allow you to see your password. If they do it means they are either not storing it as encrypted or they are using a 2 way encryption algorithm, both are big no-no's, and are a result of poor security protocols in place. If any site is able to provide you with the text of your password you should consider that site to be unsafe and treat accordingly.

Generally speaking, once a password is encrypted it should not be possible for anyone to decrypt it (obvious exclusions like password managers excepted). The only way to pass the password checks should be to provide the correct password (which is encrypted and compared against the stored encrypted password), or to change the password.

Some older sites still use security questions, and have been recently annoyed (and somewhat surprised) on more than one occasion, when I realised the answers have not been encrypted.

twopenny

But Ivan, a lot have an eye symbol beside them which you click to 'see' your password.

Is this wrong?

Because it's on utilities and similar

Neil_Jones

twopenny said:

But Ivan, a lot have an eye symbol beside them which you click to 'see' your password.

Is this wrong?

Because it's on utilities and similar

Are you sure the eye symbol isn't generated by the browser?

Like this example for Firefox:

Any decent web service won't know what your password is.  That's why they ask you to set a new one.

This video might be of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoMOAIzBSpY

IvanOpinion

twopenny said:

But Ivan, a lot have an eye symbol beside them which you click to 'see' your password.

Is this wrong?

Because it's on utilities and similar

The eye symbol shows you what you have typed in, or what the password manager has entered into the field, before encryption. It does not explicitly show the password that is required to sign in. When you hit the sign in button the text you have typed (and can see using the eye symbol) gets encrypted and sent down the line for verification and authentication purposes.

When set up correctly, as most modern systems are, the website/application you are trying to sign into will not know what your password is, just what it looks like when it has been encrypted. This is what is known as one-way encryption or hashing.

PHK

@twopenny I’d suggest you start using a password manager to keep your passwords unique and secure. They’ll also help you by filling in the password for sites/apps etc. 

twopenny

Thanks for the explanations. I've learned something

PHK nobody has access to my passwords written down and kept at home. I live alone. It also means should I snuff it the solicitors can see if there's anything important.

But apart from utilities, library, free tv there is nothing of interest to anyone unless they want to pay a bill or my library fines.

Only problem I had was someone accessing my TripAdvisor acct and writing a scathing review of somewhere I supported. That was ages ago.

flaneurs_lobster

twopenny said:

But apart from utilities, library, free tv there is nothing of interest to anyone unless they want to pay a bill or my library fines.

Don't want to be alarmist, but if a malicious person were to gain access to your utility accounts they could do some real bad stuff around changing or cancelling tariffs or signing you up for all the extra stuff that gas/leccy companies now offer (insurance, heat pumps, car chargers, smart home alarms, etc). 

Bet your library account has an area for you to leave comments, how would you feel letting a stranger loose in there?