Password Manager Question

Lastpass and keepass have already been mentioned and both are good choices. Keepass does not utilize cloud storage. Lastpass does however if that is a concern it can be turned off. A third one not yet mentioned that I have tried is Dashlane. It has a nice user interface as well as some other nice features such as form fill. The free version does not have cloud storage. Any of these three would be a good choice just find the one that works for you.

Link to a Lifehacker survey on the Five Best Password Managers

I actually keep most of my passwords in Firefox, except for banking or financial such as PayPal. It was the only method I could not defeat using a test keylogging malware, but is dependent on the browser itself not having a security hole.

However, I don't use Firefox's built in encryption. But instead encrypt the entire Firefox profile folder using much stronger encryption. Mozilla itself recommends this as the most secure method of Firefox password security.

Some other observations. If you use KeyPass, which I also do, make sure to use the Windows Secure desktop option for master password(MP). This should block unknown malicious keyloggers from stealing your MP. However, it won't prevent keyloggers from stealing individual passwords when using copy and paste or manually keying them in.

For LastPass, I was able to capture the sign in credentials using test keyloggers, which allowed access to all stored passwords in the cloud with ease. IMO, this method is among the least secure if you're infected with unknown malicious keyloggers, which many top rated AV software do not detect.

Firefox is decently secure because it has an independent security mechanism, as opposed to Chrome which uses the operating system's. I use it to stash passwords as well for most things. Not all, as the browser is the canary in the coal mine when attacks do happen.

As for password managers, I use mSecure because it allows me to use a shorter PIN on devices, but encrypts the file that is stashed on DropBox with quite a long passphrase. If one just needs a PW manager on one machine, KeePass is tops, since it is open source and quite secure.

Duck wrote:
Probably not the best thing to do but I have my password list on the Word Program on my computer. It is a stand alone program and not opened on the internet. For all the forums I visit I use the same password. I print out the list and keep it next to computer. Bad idea?
Don

Probably not the best idea, but let's face it, the chances that someone will crack your computer and steal that particular file are pretty slim. Not impossible, but pretty slim.

And also using the same password for different sites is a bad idea. It's hard to remember all those passwords which why lots of us use a password manager. You can't control all the security spots, but you should try to control the ones to which you have access.

bcsdguy wrote:
I would not trust the "cloud" to keep my passwords. I do keep them on a secure flash drive that has its own password which, if you forget it, will destroy all data on it after 3 tries. I would rather take my chance with it than any "cloud".JMHO

2X - I store my passwords in an Excel spread sheet with its own password. That way I can control my passwords.

Now for my question. I also allow firefox to store my passwords. How safe is firefox?

KeePass: Free and not in the cloud. Works extremely well.

Both in the cloud and on your machine the files are encrypted, Of course there is no encryption that can not be broken by enough effort, but there are some very good schemes that will take rather a lot of effort.

That said: I can not rank them.

Probably not the best thing to do but I have my password list on the Word Program on my computer. It is a stand alone program and not opened on the internet. For all the forums I visit I use the same password. I print out the list and keep it next to computer. Bad idea?
Don

Lastpass.