With less time on our hands and having to sign up for everything we do on the Internet Autocomplete can really safe us a lot of time when signing up for something, but do you know that when you autocomplete your name you are also giving away your credit card information? Google introduced Autocomplete in Google Chrome back in 2012. This feature allows you to fill in forms with your personal information like your name, address, phone number, email address and bank account information without having to write them manually, instead it will remember from the last time you filled in the required information.
The issue was spotted by famous wordpress developer Joost de Valk that when you ask to autocomplete your Name for example, you are sending much more then just your name, it will also send all the other information it can autocomplete about you even if it isn’t required. This also includes your credit card information. Joost has made this little tool where you can see what will be autocompleted if you just wish to fill in your Name.
How can i prevent my personal information which i didn’t want to give away of being send? Very easy, turning off Autocomplete until Google allows users to customize what will be “autofilled”. By following these steps you can disable Autocomplete in just a matter of seconds.
- Open Google Chrome and go to Settings
- Navigate to Options
- Scroll down to Personal Stuff
- Where it says “Autofill” make sure to uncheck “Enable Autofill to fill out web forms in a single click”
