A friend in Austin showed me how easy it is to see saved Wi-Fi passwords

We were at his place last month and he needed to get his printer online. He pulled up his laptop's network settings and in about ten seconds, he showed me the plain text password for his home network that Windows had saved. He just said, 'If someone gets on your computer, they get all your logins.' I had no idea it was that simple to find. Has anyone set up a better way to manage their Wi-Fi passwords so they aren't just sitting there?

3 comments

3 Comments

wade_dixon5d ago

Isn't it crazy how something so important is just sitting there in plain sight? I felt the same shock when I first saw that. It makes you wonder why the system is even set up that way, right? Your friend's point about someone getting on your computer is exactly what worries me. Using a separate password manager for that stuff sounds like the smart move. It's a pain, but so is finding out someone's been using your internet.

shane1655d ago

My old roommate in college used to do that to get free internet from our neighbors. He'd borrow a laptop, find their saved network password in the settings, and then just connect all his own stuff. It was way too easy. I started using a password manager after that, not just for websites but to store the wifi key too, so it's not just sitting in plain text on the machine. You have to open the manager and unlock it with a master password first. It adds one extra step but feels way more secure.

kellyallen5d ago

Seriously, that's wild. Your old roommate had some nerve. Good call on the password manager though, that extra step is totally worth it.