Personal story: Copy paste security

1 minute read

I was talking to some friends about security and accessibility. And one of them had this story, shared with their permission and edited for clarity.

I use a password manager and it's a life saver. But my bank's login page disables copy-paste for security. So I have to manually type my password which is 12 characters long and has special characters. I constantly mistype and get locked out. I then have to call support and go through the verification and the usual questions of have you been hacked. I'm sure I'm on some list they keep of suspicious activity.

I feel you.

Disabling copy-paste on password fields "for security" actually makes things worse. It breaks password managers. It also hurts people with dyslexia or motor disabilities who rely on copy-paste to work like it should. Most websites now have HTTPS and a password manager will only auto-fill if you are on the correct URL.

This restriction creates more problems without adding any real security.

Sent on

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