Why Using Autofill Could Reveal Your Personal Information
Here at LuxyList our first priority is securing your personal information. As such, we do not share any Personally Identifiable Info with Gifters or Listers. However, staying secure is something we all need to think (and talk) about on a regular basis.
This month, we will talk about “Autofill” and why this convenience feature might be revealing your real identity.
What is “Autofill”.
Autofill, also called autocomplete, is a software feature that automatically inserts previously-entered personal information into web form fields for your convenience. It is often used by browsers and password managers to automatically provide information that is frequently requested. Most popular web browsers, like Chrome and Firefox, have some form of autofill function built in their functionality. These browsers will automatically fill out all the boxes on the webpage – whether you can see them or not. So you might think you’re just submitting your name and email, but those hidden boxes could also get your address, phone number, credit card information, and a whole range of other personal info.
Should you Deactivate Autofill?
The answer is YES, you should deactivate autofill!. According to Hackernoon, ¨The biggest concern with autofill is privacy and how a hacker can easily obtain personal information. It is simple to trick a browser or password manager into giving up saved login credentials.¨
Good Housekeeping writes ¨If you use the autofill feature on your computer, be warned: the handy tool could be putting you at risk of getting your usernames and passwords stolen, according to new research out of Princeton University.¨
So, what’s the easiest way to protect yourself? Deactivate autofill in any browser you use. If you use a password management service – we recommend LastPass – then it should instruct you on how to do this. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommends “Using a password manager with autofill. Password managers that auto-fill passwords keep track of which sites those passwords belong to. While it’s easy for a human to be tricked by fake login pages, password managers are not tricked in the same way. ”
How to Deactivate Autofill
You can view more information about each browser and how to deactivate or clear AutoFill/AutoComplete information below:
Additional tips to keep you secure
- Add Multifactor Authentication (MFA) to all highly sensitive logins
- Use a trusted Password manager – We use and recommend LastPass
- Use a Passphrase vs a password
- Lastly, we recommend, “Surveillance Self- Defense”, a comprehensive security resource created by the Electronic Freedom Foundation, an organization committed to protecting the rights and privacy of the global internet community.
At Luxylist we feel strongly enough about the risk autofill presents that we have taken steps to prevent it on fields that may impact your privacy, like name, email, address, and phone numbers. While we feel this should prevent most autofill capability, we recommend that you always double check all the values you’re submitting on any website before you click the button to save or continue, just in case your browser has automatically made changes of which you weren’t aware.
