multiple browser tabs and security

[BananaBandit]

I suspect this is a peculiarly silly question, but I still wish to ask...

 

Let's say you have multiple tabs of Google Chrome running simultaneously...some YouTube, some Facebook... 

 

Does having these tabs open make things any riskier (in terms of having someone steal your passwords) when you sign in to emails and other accounts in a separate tab?

[cnx1204]

I frequently have 20-30 tabs open at a time with no security problems to date (doing this for years).  But when I open, say, a bank's on-line program, I do my business and close it immediately.  So I would say it is not the amount of tabs being open that put you at risk.

[tomazbodner]

If you're worried, use Incognito mode on new window for important stuff, or Private Window in Firefox. These make the page run in a sandbox, even copy/paste in and out of them doesn't work.

[fdsa]

3 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

Does having these tabs open make things any riskier (in terms of having someone steal your passwords) when you sign in to emails and other accounts in a separate tab?

it depends on the browser and the operating system, most modern browsers run different tabs as a different threads which limits the possibilities to steal the data from another tab.

but still it is not totally secure, to be safe you should run different processes not different threads, i.e. run several different instances of the same browser, and use the separate browser profiles.

the Incognito mode is an analogue of running a separate browser process with a separate browser profile, but it is not very handy because it removes all history and cookies on close so you will have to login again when you open the incognito window again.

I recommend using the different, separate browser profiles for the different websites, i.e. I have one for youtube, another for facebook, another for general browsing (casual googling and this website), another for e-mails.

[fdsa]

9 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

Does having these tabs open make things any riskier (in terms of having someone steal your passwords) when you sign in to emails and other accounts in a separate tab?

btw I've just recalled that Chrome and friends (Brave, Opera, et cetera) have added a new feature that allows websites to read the clipboard contents.

i.e. you open your "Passwords.txt" file, copy the password for your e-mail account, and some malicious opened tab in a browser (read Google or Facebook) immediately copies your password and saves it in its database "for your comfort and safety"

 

I've made a habit to keep a space in the clipboard, and advise everyone to do the same. -- copy a blank space immediately after copypasting the sensitive information.

Edited September 12, 2022 by fdsa

[BananaBandit]

12 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

If you're worried, use Incognito mode on new window for important stuff, or Private Window in Firefox. These make the page run in a sandbox, even copy/paste in and out of them doesn't work.

That's interesting.  I'd heard of Incognito but never used it.

 

Does Incognito mode provide an extra layer of protection when opening links to PDFs?

[BananaBandit]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:09 AM, fdsa said:

some malicious opened tab in a browser (read Google or Facebook) immediately copies your password and saves it in its database "for your comfort and safety"

Does that sort of activity involve SQL injections?

[fdsa]

1 hour ago, BananaBandit said:

Does that sort of activity involve SQL injections?

SQL injections are usually made by the website visitors against the website, not vice-versa.

however all browsers store their history and cookies in a SQLite database so theoretically there is a possibility that a malicious website would perform an SQL injection attack against visitors' browsers.