How to use the Keychain® Access utility of Mac OS X® to unlock and view passwords

An year-old cybersecurity researcher in Germany reportedly developed the exploit. A malicious app running on your Mac could steal your cache of passwords, a teenage security researcher has found. It takes advantage of a flaw in the code that runs a Mac’s internal stores of passwords, called keychains. As the malicious application works, it pulls up a list of passwords for apps that commonly interface with computers, like Facebook and Twitter.

Apple security researcher Patrick Wardle said he’s seen the exploit up close and can confirm it works.

If the password saved in the keychain isn’t up-to-date, you will not be able to print or access shared drives. Step 1: Go to the Finder’s Go menu.

Make it easy to remember, and someone may swipe it. Make it hard to guess, and you may forget it yourself. Mac OS X has the answer: the Keychain. In addition to accessing your keychain through these dialog boxes, you can work directly with your Key-chain via Keychain Access Applications: Utilities. Select any password item to bring up information about that item at the bottom of the window: the item name and kind; the account name if applicable ; and the specific URL, application name, or disk-image name for which you use the password.

You can view the actual password by selecting the Show Password option and entering your Keychain password.