Keeping Passwords Safe

[pigman1]

Anyone out there have problems with passwords? I was getting more and more concerned that my passwords for various important sites were not as safe as they could be, especially when traveling. I did a count the other day and found I had 103 passwords for sites I visit. Some of these were innocuous such as common forums, but others were quite critical for such things as bank accounts and investment houses. Keeping these safe, suitably complex and changing them when necessary has become quite a chore. I’ve tried numerous password managers but most were awkward to use or downright unusable.

I recently found DASHLANE clickey on line. It’s free, relatively easy to use, private, and has received a number of good reviews. What I like is that it enters your password and username into your sign in page automatically. In addition, you can have it generate complex passwords or come up with them yourself. It will also store non-password items such as credit card numbers, safe combinations and secure notes you want to keep private. It doesn’t work perfectly on all sites, but overall I’d give it a B+ to A-

Other than being a happy user, I have no interest in the company or any of it’s products. Check it out if you have some of the similar concerns as I had.

[OH48Lt]

Giving up personal info to a third party? No way. That includes programs, services, clouds, using third party computers or networks, or wherever, as long as it leaves your personal computer. You're going to be OK 99+% of the time. Its the other 1% that spells disaster. 1775 has the right idea, don't give it to anybody except the website you're wanting to access with that password. Even then, change passwords often on sensitive information (online banking, credit cards, etc). I've seen people doing their online banking using the public network at a restaurant, just last Thursday at a local Schlotzky's (sp?) restaurant.

I'd use a 3rd party app to store so-called "annoyance passwords" for non-critical websites that force you to create an account using non-personal data, where it doesn't matter to me if they get published in the New York Times front page the next day. But that's about all.

[pigman1]

HappyKayakers wrote:
Do any of these programs also store the answers to your security questions? Granted it should be easy to remember answers to typical questions but you could slip on punctuation or capitalization. I have one site (military) that has 8 security questions.

Dashlane has a note section on each site page where you can store any notes that might refer to that username and password. They are not automatically entered but can be easily copied to your web page questions.

[AllegroD]

SplashID

[1492]

wkswenson wrote:
I use KeePass on a thumbdrive - never online unless I need a password and no cloud hacking/data loss issues.

I also use KeePass, a free open source manager, for many years. It uses strong AES 256 bit encryption, and you can pretty much keep any type of info in its database. I keep the encrypted KeePass database synced in my Dropbox, so always up to date and available on my computers, tablets, and phones.

I keep all my passwords in KeePass, but acts more as a backup. Most of my passwords are also stored in Firefox's password database, except for banking and financial. Though Firefox uses a master password to encrypt the database, I don't use it. Instead, I place Firefox's profile folder, which contains the database, in a TrueCrypt encrypted container. This significantly hardens the database, making it as secure as standalone password apps, and recommended by Mozilla. Been using the Secure Login extension which allows one-click access to websites using Firefox.

I'm also weary of storing passwords using proprietary cloud based apps. Who controls or has access to the encryption keys? And how do you confirm this?

[WoodGlue]

HappyKayakers wrote:
Do any of these programs also store the answers to your security questions? Granted it should be easy to remember answers to typical questions but you could slip on punctuation or capitalization. I have one site (military) that has 8 security questions.

Yes, Roboform allows you to edit and make notes in any password field.

[Tom_M1]

KeePass has a notes field where you can put any kind of information.

[HappyKayakers]

Do any of these programs also store the answers to your security questions? Granted it should be easy to remember answers to typical questions but you could slip on punctuation or capitalization. I have one site (military) that has 8 security questions.

[AJMom]

I don't want any of my passwords in the cloud. I use a personal algorithm...a string of letters (lowercase and uppercase) and numbers that have personal meaning for me, but wouldn't for anyone else. I use that same string of characters for every website, but add a couple more characters to the beginning or end that relate to the site I'm on. So, for example, if my string is Gh34kL76 and I was on Amazon, I'd know to add An or aN to the beginning or end of the string for that password. The original string is easy to remember, since it has personal meaning for only me, and the rest is based on the name of the site I'm on, so it might sound complicated, but works very well.

DH works in IT, and says this is a very secure way to remember a variety of passwords.

[1775]

A paper notebook and a pen - kept in a safe place where only I can see it.

[the_bear_II]

I use an APP on my iPhone called mSecure.

[wkswenson]

I use KeePass on a thumbdrive - never online unless I need a password and no cloud hacking/data loss issues.

[WoodGlue]

Roboform is about the best thing going.

Roboform

They do offer discounted prices for handicapped people. Or try the coupon code REGOG at checkout or HOL14

WoodGlue

[LittleBill]

lol what happens when the cloud site gets hacked?

use roboform, in local mode

[pigman1]

RV Volunteers CONUS wrote:
Safe In Cloud,

Syncs User Name, PW across all our laptops, tablets and smartphones.

DW gets any additions or changes I make.

Works great!

Yes, but there are those of us who are not too excited about anything in the cloud. You can get multiple machines using this program by transferring your info on a chip or thumb drive without ever putting it out over the net. Just a personal preference of a suspicious person.

[RV_CONUS]

Safe In Cloud,

Syncs User Name, PW across all our laptops, tablets and smartphones.

DW gets any additions or changes I make.

Works great!