Unmask your passwords with this JavaScript trick
source : http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/unmask-your-passwords-with-this-javascript-trick/2156
Takeaway: If
you think you mistyped a password into a password field in your
browser, a simple JavaScript trick can help you find out by unmasking
the password.
I get Nielsen’s newsletter emails, and the man knows more about usability testing than any two other people I’ve encountered put together. Considering that in many ways interface design is security design, applying the principles Dr. Nielsen discusses to making the secure way to use a piece of software the easy way could be a great boon to many software developers.
Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is a row of bullets. Typically, masking passwords doesn’t even increase security, but it does cost you business due to login failures.I was (predictably) concerned with how people would take the advice he offered. The truth of the matter is that masking passwords is an essential security feature in many circumstances, such as any time I use my laptop to log into a Web site at a coffee shop where random strangers might shoulder-surf to see my passwords, or any time I do so where there may be cameras overhead that can record what appears on the screen, such as an airport waiting area or library. Even sitting in your cubicle at work, where you might type passwords more times per day than you do anywhere else in the course of a week, can be an important place for password masking.
On the other hand, there are times it can be nice to see your password, and where you can be reasonably certain nobody else is going to see it on your screen. For those times, it would be nice to have a way to unmask a password.
A snippet of JavaScript is here to save the day:
var els = document.getElementsByTagName(’input’); for(var x = 0; x < els.length; x++) { if(els[x].type.toLowerCase() == ‘password’ ) { var test = els[x].type = ‘text’; } }
If you put
javascript: at the beginning of that, and
delete all the newlines so that it becomes a one-liner, you can delete
the text in your browser’s address bar and paste the JavaScript snippet
in the address bar instead, then hit the Enter key. This will cause
masked passwords to be revealed.
- Right-click on the new bookmark button and select
Properties. The title bar for the bookmark’s Properties dialog will still show the name of the bookmark’s original Webpage while you make edits, but don’t worry about that. - Change the text in the Name field to
Unmask(or whatever else you want it to say). - Change the text in the Location field the same way you would for the browser address bar, as described above.
- Clear the Keyword and Description fields, and fill them with whatever you like (or nothing at all).
- Click the
Save Changesbutton.
Unmask bookmark button in your Bookmark Toolbar.In Firefox, you can also just drag and drop this link to your Bookmark Toolbar to get the same effect, if you like:
You are, unfortunately, on your own for figuring out how to do any of this in other browsers.
Finally, if you are a Web developer and you think it is a good idea to give your site’s visitors the ability to unmask passwords when they try to log in, you can always create an
Unmask Password
link using the above JavaScript snippet. I recommend thinking long and
hard about that before making the option available, however.In an article like this, I can make people aware that there is a danger to security that is addressed by masked password fields, thus leaving it up to the user to make an informed decision. Many visitors to your site on the Internet may not be aware of the risks of unmasking passwords, however, and dumping a lot of text on users explaining the dangers so they can make an informed decision can more than counteract any usability gains from making it possible to unmask passwords with a simple mouse click. Whatever you do, just don’t force your users to live with unmasked passwords.
As a final warning, keep in mind that when you walk away from your computer with your password on the screen, the fact that it is masked may not stop someone else from getting your password using something like this JavaScript trick. Most software security techniques, no matter how useful in a networked world, are not proof against physical access to the machine.
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Select the capacity of your USB Drive.
The
tool checks your USB and connects to the internet.If you had selected a
wrong capacity in the previous step,then you will get an error here.
Choose “Repair drive & erase all data” and click on Start.The other option “repair drive & keep existing data” does not fix all problems.
Your USB drive will be formatted.This formatting
is different from the Format option available in Windows as this tool
uses the Alcor Mass Production Tool to format your USB Drive.In this
process the Alcor Chip in your USB Drive is reconfigured.This process
may take some time.
