Advice Request Any way to force Opera to ask user his fingerprint in order to show saved passwords?

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brod56

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I'm buying a new laptop with a built-in fingerprint scanner, and I'm wondering if I could use Opera (or other Chromium-based browser) to secure my passwords using it.
The ideia is that before the saved password fills the desired camp, the user's fingerprint is asked. Exactly the same mechanism used when you go to the browser's settings and click to view saved passwords.
Any way to achieve this? I'm not using a password manager at the moment, but if one of them is a solution to this I'll consider.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 58943

You should use a password manager and not the biometrics. One thing I caution is that there are a variety of biometric systems in use. Proper biometric systems won't actually store your fingerprint. They store a trivial, meaningless, non-identifiable 'mapping' of a few select points on your fingerprint. Other systems are horrendously flawed because they map your entire print or photograph your print itself.

Minutia points are commonly used but if the minutia metric is too dense it could in theory result in a reverse mapping of your print. Point Mapping is the safest, as it can't generally be used to extrapolate your actual print. Biometric mapping is the worst as it basically takes a full print from you and then creates a datastream that is easily extrapolated.

So the issue is - you can't be certain exactly what system is being used and how it is being stored, so it's best to avoid it ALL biometric authentication. Until we get laws, regulations and disclosure requirements as citizens, we should assume the worst under virtually all conditions.

mapping.png
 

brod56

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So the issue is - you can't be certain exactly what system is being used and how it is being stored, so it's best to avoid it ALL biometric authentication. Until we get laws, regulations and disclosure requirements as citizens, we should assume the worst under virtually all conditions.
I understand the flaws behind all sorts of biometrics, but I'm not paranoid enough to ignore their convenience.
I appreciate the information, but you didn't answer my question.
 

upnorth

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Personal what I know from been using Opera for years, I never seen or heard of any built in Biometric feature in Opera itself but the password manager Lastpass that you simply install as a extension in Opera there is supposed to exist Biometric features but I never used it so can't say how effective it is. Its at least a possible workaround on what you seek.
 

brod56

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Fingerprints readers on laptops are only for the Hello feature of Win10 (check Sign-In options in settings) to supersede passwords. (mostly used for the sign-ins and UAC prompts, basically the authentication required by the OS).
Which is quite sad. I think of it as lost potential... Being able to use them for site credentials would be genius.
 

brod56

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Unlike smartphones, few people have computers with FP readers, so software's devs aren't hurry to implement the functionality.
Even on smartphones it is quite recent.
What's your concept of recent? Fingerprint readers are popular since the iPhone 5s, which was released 5 years ago. I consider it an eternity in the tech world.
Anyway, I really hope devs start to notice the potential of biometrics to enhance both convenience and security of their apps.
 

upnorth

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