How To Sync Firefox Bookmarks and Passwords Privately

Most Firefox users who want to sync data like bookmarks or passwords use the built-in sync feature to do just that. Firefox Sync requires an account, and uses that account to save the data in the cloud. While easy to setup, it means that data is hosted on a third party server that you do not have control over. Most extensions and services that offer third party solutions do the same thing. If you do not want your data to be hosted on a third party service, either because you want to be in full control or because of business regulations, you could check out the Sync Places extensions for the browser.

SyncPlaces, unlike other tools of its kind, allows you to store the data on your own servers. The Firefox add-on can store the data on four different servers:

Web serverWeb server with SSLFTP serverFile server

You need to restart the browser after you have installed the extension. SyncPlaces adds an icon to the browser’s status bar that you can click on to open the options and configure the synchronization.

The configuration option consist of the usual information, server IP, username and password for instance, but also options that let you configure the process. You can configure the extension to synchronize data automatically, at specific times of the day, regularly, or on startup or shutdown. The information can be encrypted and compressed to secure and speed up the transfer, and you can furthermore switch from synchronizing all bookmarks to synchronizing a specific bookmarks folder only. Data can either be merged with what’s stored on the server, or replaced completely.

Takes a backup of your current bookmarks before overwriting them, which you can restore if it all goes wrong. You can also manually take a backup at any time, or restore from this backup.

Bookmarks are stored in JSON or XBEL format. JSON is ideal for all the new Places features (tags, queries etc). XBEL is ideal if you still use Firefox 2 (although you’ll lose the new Places features) or wish to style your bookmarks so you can access them from any browser, or without installing the SyncPlaces extension. You can also send bookmarks in HTML format if you don’t wish to style XBEL yourself.

The core benefit of using SyncPlaces is that you have got full control over both the local installations of Firefox and the server the data is stored on. It in turn means that you need to have access to a server to use the extension at all. While it is possible to use third party servers like the GMX server, it would undo the main purpose the extension has been created for. Firefox users who have issues configuring the extension should check out the author’s support website which offers a collection of tips to get common issues sorted out.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Monday April 16, 2012 -
Tags:firefox add-ons, synchronize

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Web Hoster Dreamhost Hacked, Asks Users To Change Passwords

After a relatively quite holiday period attacks on popular services on the Internet seem to have picked up again. After the Zappos incident a few days ago, it is now the popular web hoster Dreamhost who noticed unauthorized activity within one of the company’s databases. Dreamhost is not going into further detail but mentions that they do not have evidence that customer login information or passwords have been dumped by the attackers.

The company nevertheless decided to reset all FTP and shell user access passwords for all Dreamhost users. This should not be confused with the account password used to log into the Dreamhost site itself though. Dreamhost customers who are using the same passwords for multiple services should change passwords on all of them to eliminate the possibility of unauthorized access to those accounts.

Dreamhost furthermore notes that users should also be changing email passwords of all Dreamhost managed email addresses as soon as possible.

We have been sending out update emails to every account owner we have, letting them know what happened, and how to proceed from here on out. As a precaution, we advise every user to change all email passwords as well. We are not forcing this change, however, so make sure you take care of that ASAP.

Shell and ftp passwords can be changed in the Manage Users interface which is accessible here. Dreamhost customers need to click on the edit button next to the ftp or shell user to change the log in password for that account.

A company representative noted that neither credit card data nor web panel logins were accessed by the attackers. If you read through all of the 270 or so comments on the Dreamhost blog, you will notice that many customers were quite infuriated about the level of information they received. Web panel access was not available at all times due to users trying to change their passwords, and rumors spread that Dreamhost was storing passwords in plain text (which was later refuted by a Dreamhost employee who stated that they were hashed).

Lets take a look at what Dreamhost customers need to do right now:

Log into the web panel and change FTP, SFTP, MYSQL, Email and other account passwords. Some passwords have been reset automatically by Dreamhost which means that they need to be changed anyway to regain access.Change passwords on other accounts if the same password was used for access.

Passwords with a reasonable length should be safe, but it is nevertheless better to make the changes to be certain that the attackers cannot use successfully decrypted passwords to gain account or service access. A password manager like KeePass can aid in the creation of secure passwords.

Are you a Dreamhost customer? If so, when did you receive notification about the security incident and what did you experience afterwards?

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Improve Firefox Private Browsing With Private Browsing Window Add-on About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Saturday January 21, 2012 -
Tags:dreamhost, Hacking

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Zappos Hacked, Security Email Asks Users To Change Passwords

Zappos yesterday notified all of their employees and customers that a company server has been compromised. The email, accessible online only for visitors from the US, indicates that the attackers may have gotten hold of part or all of the customer account database of Zappos.com. Information that may have been retrieved by the attacker include customer names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of the credit card number and encrypted passwords.

Tony Hsie, Zappos’ CEO, notes that the credit card and payment database has not been affected or accessed by the attacker.

While not in immediate danger, customers are asked to change their account passwords at the next possible moment to protect their accounts from unauthorized access. If the attackers managed to dump the account username and password, they have likely started to decrypt the passwords with the help of dictionary lists and brute forcing. The attackers cannot use the information directly on the Zappos site though, as passwords have been reset by the company. Customers are asked to create a new password by “clicking on the “Create a New Password” link in the upper right corner of the web site and follow the steps from there”. It is alternatively possible to open the Password Change page right away on the website which leads to the create a new password page.

Zappos notes that users should change passwords on other websites if they have used the same password for accounts on those sites. If the attackers manage to decrypt the passwords, they could try to log into email accounts or other popular web services.

We also recommend that you change your password on any other web site where you use the same or a similar password. As always, please remember that Zappos.com will never ask you for personal or account information in an e-mail. Please exercise caution if you receive any emails or phone calls that ask for personal information or direct you to a web site where you are asked to provide personal information.

Resetting more than 24 million customer passwords must have not been an easy decision for the company CEO. Other hacked companies have reacted differently in the past, for instance by only emailing their customers about the breach and asking them in the email to change their account passwords. The better safe than sorry approach seems to be better suited for these kind of situations. What’s your take on the news, and do you think that Zappos made the right move?

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Audit Windows Passwords With Password Security Scanner About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Monday January 16, 2012 -
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