If someone steals my mac, can he access my Keychain ?

[Angelo95210]

Hi all

I know that you can reset easily the admin password with a Mac OS cdrom. So does it mean Keychain can be accessed as well ?

How to prevent that ? (and not using FileVault)

 

[Gregg2]

I'm a real novice when it comes to Keychain, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong. But, I've opened it to look around, and have not seen passwords revealed. However, I believe that if someone can log in, they will also have access to websites where you have had to log in and have passwords saved by Keychain. Further, if you can log in, you can open Keychain and find out what websites you will have automatic login access to.

 

[JavierP]

I'm a real novice when it comes to Keychain, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong. But, I've opened it to look around, and have not seen passwords revealed. However, I believe that if someone can log in, they will also have access to websites where you have had to log in and have passwords saved by Keychain. Further, if you can log in, you can open Keychain and find out what websites you will have automatic login access to.

Keychain can be set to use a different password from the login one, and it can be "closed". When setup this way, whenever a program needs to use the keychain it will ask for the keychain password.

 

[Mal]

Just another note, if someone resets your password with an install disk, the Keychain password is not changed, and then none of your passwords will be used or accessible without that original password. There is no way to reset a forgotten Keychain password.

jW

 

[JAT]

I'm a real novice when it comes to Keychain, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong. But, I've opened it to look around, and have not seen passwords revealed. However, I believe that if someone can log in, they will also have access to websites where you have had to log in and have passwords saved by Keychain. Further, if you can log in, you can open Keychain and find out what websites you will have automatic login access to.

Passwords saved in Keychain can be revealed. But you need the Keychain master password. That's what the OP's question is about.

I actually just used this Sat with a family member to retrieve a forgotten password.