Security Preferences
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In the Security preferences you can manage your security certificates and set up which security protocols to use. Opera can also warn you about potentially unsafe situations.
Master password
To prevent other people from using your certificates, you can set a security password with strong 168-bit triple DES encryption.
You will then be asked to enter your security password when you want to use your certificates.
- Select a password that is impossible to guess and keep it secret
- Set Opera to ask for the security password every time needed if other people have access to your computer or user account
You can also use the security password to protect your e-mail, news, and Wand passwords.
Security protocols
Security protocols are used to communicate securely with sites where sensitive data, such as credit card information, is involved.
If you want to use only Web services with strong security, you can disable SSL 2, SSL 3, and ciphers below 128 bits to prevent connections to less secure Web services. Note, however, that this is likely to cause many such services to malfunction.
Note: When you are on sites using security protocols, a yellow security bar will be displayed inside the address field. In addition to a padlock icon that signals the level of security present, you will also see the name of the organization that the certificate is registered to. Click the bar for additional information.
Certificates
Certificate authorities are used to identify secure Web sites. For example, the secure version of the University of Oslo Web site is authorized by the Thawte organization. Most of the certificate authorities you will need are installed with Opera.
Personal certificates are used to identify you as the genuine user of a Web service. These certificates are normally installed the first time you sign up for the service.
Certificate handling is in most cases effortless and automatic. If you are unsure about using a particular certificate you can:
- Make a dialog box appear so that you can choose what to do with certificates
- Temporarily disable the certificate, thereby preventing access to certified sites
- Permanently delete the certificate
To restore a deleted certificate, visit the original provider's Web site or re-install Opera. You can also import and export certificates between Opera and other software.
Learn more about accepting certificates
Warnings
Opera can warn you before sending insecure forms or uploading pages to a markup validator. Keep these settings enabled if you are concerned about unintentionally sending sensitive data over the Internet.
Submitting forms to services such as search engines and open discussion forums is harmless.
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