Mozilla Strengthens Privacy With Firefox Lockwise Password Manager

The Mozilla Foundation has added a number of new features for its Firefox web browser, including a new free-of-charge desktop password manager called Firefox Lockwise.

Mozilla it should be remembered, already launched its Lockbox password manager for Android and iOS devices last year to help mobile users manage website passwords.

And now Firefox Lockwise has been made been made available as an extension to the Firefox browsers.

Password manager

Mozilla revealed the development in a blog posting which emphasised the growing focus on privacy.

“This past year, we’ve seen tech companies talk a big game about privacy as they’re realizing that, after several global scandals, people feel increasingly vulnerable,” wrote Mozilla. “It’s unfortunate that this shift had to happen in order for tech companies to take notice.

“At Firefox, we’re doing more than that,” it said. “We believe that in order to truly protect people, we need to establish a new standard that puts people’s privacy first. At Firefox, we have been working on setting this standard by offering privacy-related features, like Tracking Protection in Private Browsing, long before these issues were brought to light.”

Mozilla highlighted the arrival of a Firefox desktop extension for Lockwise, a way to keep passwords safe across all platforms, and Firefox Monitor’s new dashboard to manage multiple email addresses.

A video of Lockwise is available here.

“Last Summer, we brought you Firefox Lockbox for iOS, and in March of this year we announced both Firefox Lockbox for Android and an iPad-optimized version to expand the ecosystem,” said Mozilla. “One of the top most requested features from users was to find a way to manage their passwords.”

“Today, we are rolling out a Firefox desktop extension that offers this feature and completes this product family we are now calling Firefox Lockwise,” it wrote.

“As part of the Firefox Lockwise product suite, formerly known as Firefox Lockbox, the desktop extension will give you more control over your stored passwords with shared access from every device,” said the community.

“With the new desktop extension, Firefox Lockwise will provide an additional touchpoint to store, edit and access your passwords. The extension provides an enhanced experience for your saved logins, which will allow you to more easily manage and interact with your stored passwords in Firefox.”

Other developments

Other privacy developments include a new interface for Firefox Monitor, which Mozilla launched last year to help users see if their login details have been leaked as part of a data breach.

The new dashboard lets the user monitor multiple email addresses, and receive alerts to a primary email address if any of them appear in lists of leaked data.

The other major privacy development is Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection (which was previously an optional setting), will soon be enabled by default. It will block cookies by default from known third party trackers identified by Diconnect.

It said this would make it harder for over a thousand companies to track people’s every move, without their explicit permission.

Another privacy development is the updating of Mozilla’s privacy-focused features including an upgraded Facebook Container extension.

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