I store all of my passwords in firefox’s built-in password manager. They auto-fill into websites, sync to my phone, notify me if one appears publicly, and I can generate strong new passwords conveniently. The pw vault is stored encrypted in the cloud as far as I know, but I don’t really know the technical details. I presume that it’s just as secure as using a “proper” manager.
Is there a problem with not using a dedicated password manager? I used to use LastPass but then… I stopped. And at the time I didn’t see anything wrong with just sticking with FF.
Using Firefox is fine right? If so, what’s the benefit of something like BitWarden/etc over the built-in one?
Most external password managers have features that the one built into Firefox (or any browser) lack, not least of which is having a separate (encrypted) backup of passwords (a tiny amount of data) independent of a browser profile (often huge).
The next main one is the ability to generate random secure passwords for accounts rather than simply remember the ones you’ve made up yourself.
Though you didn’t ask, PasswordSafe is my preferred choice. (Runs just about anywhere, or so I’m led to believe. I’ve only ever run it on the one computer.)
I don’t even know most of my passwords now. When I’ve accidentally pasted one into the wrong field somewhere, they’ve been practically illegible.
Firefox has the ability to generate random secure passwords. Firefox Sync backs the (encrypted) passwords up automatically, if you set that up to do so.
I stand corrected. I’ve had the “save passwords” feature disabled for a long time due to (largely misplaced) paranoia, and that feature needs to be enabled for it to generate one.
Edited my original comment to reflect my feelings on the implementation.
Firefox doesn’t always generate a password for me. I have never figured out when/why but sometimes it won’t
Have you experienced this with other password managers?
I think (I am not a coder/programmer) that there are a few ways to declare a text entry field is a password field. This tells the browser to replace anything you type with stars. And your password manager is listening for you to access such a field so it can go to work. And some password managers don’t detect all the kinds of password fields.
That’s my guess. Because I’ve had the same experience with both BitWarden and Apple (Passwords app).