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Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by bcaulfield on Friday December 15, 2017 @03:28PM (#15934799)
What password managers do HN readers recommend?
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by DenisM on Friday December 15, 2017 @06:49PM (#15936313)
These days I just go to Wirecutter with any such questions: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-password-managers/
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by ploxiln on Friday December 15, 2017 @07:42PM (#15936573)
It seems they only considered fancy-UI lots-of-features browser-integrated commercial password managers. I would never use any of those.

For a graphical password manager, consider instead PasswordSafe, KeePass, KeePassXC. They're not complicated. Don't look for or enable any integrations. Manually copy your encrypted password database to google drive or dropbox. It's simple and secure.

Anything more automated and "easy" is almost always found to be vulnerable. LastPass and OnePass have both had problems with their fancy online accounts and recovery systems and browser integrations. Just don't bother with all that crap, you don't need it.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by craftyguy on Friday December 15, 2017 @03:37PM (#15934865)
I use pass with git for synchronization. It's simple, and portable (passwords are gpg-encrypted plain text files)
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by bhhaskin on Friday December 15, 2017 @04:50PM (#15935515)
Can't recommend Pass enough. It is great. Also you can use it with a smartcard.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by dddddaviddddd on Friday December 15, 2017 @07:16PM (#15936464)
I use 1Password but AgileBits's push to cloud services is troubling — will definitely move to something else if they remove local vaults.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by ta98789878 on Friday December 15, 2017 @07:45PM (#15936587)
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by mehrdadn on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:06PM (#15937178)
Do you know what he thinks of 1Password? e.g. I've seen this comment [1] on 1Password, but do you know what his actual thoughts are? He's not fond of it, but does he have anything concrete to say about it as to why? I have friends using 1Password and I would like to be able to tell them and give them concrete reasons to switch to KeePass if there are security issues with it.

[1] https://twitter.com/taviso/status/760231214812844032

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by zie on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:21PM (#15937238)
There aren't security issues with 1Password really, but there are other issues, mostly around the company AgileBits. From my other comment on this thread:

These days AgileBits(the 1password people) are doing everything they can to get everyone onto a subscription plan, and are breaking local vaults slowly. Most people don't seem to recommend it anymore.

The only security issue really is the online vault(which isn't a security issue per-say, but is a security weakness since your passwords are no longer under your direct control). This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on your security posture.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by mehrdadn on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:26PM (#15937261)
Thanks! So would you know what he meant with that tweet? Was he just annoyed at the subscription plan...? It seems out of place given that he's a security researcher from what I gather?
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by zie on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:47PM (#15937411)
No, and that tweet was from Aug. 2016 with nothing further from him about 1password, unless I missed it, so clearly he didn't feel compelled to either continue his research or he didn't find anything worth disclosing. Your guess as to which is meant.

But other researchers have played with 1password and most have historically had good things to say about it, except recently when they started pushing everyone to the online vaults like I mentioned.

And yes, he is a security researcher for Google.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Wevah on Saturday December 16, 2017 @12:52AM (#15938004)
Anecdotally, I haven’t had any problems with my local vaults (yet), though I rarely use 1Password on Windows.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by abrowne on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:02PM (#15937168)
You want KeePassXC https://keepassxc.org/
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by mehrdadn on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:06PM (#15937186)
What is the benefit of KeePassXC over KeePass[X]?

I just tried it and the lack of plugin or sync support was a deal-breaker for me. I have plugins for syncing to cloud storage, for browser integration, for OTP generation, etc., none of which it seems to support?

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by abrowne on Monday December 18, 2017 @03:39PM (#15955284)
KeepassXC is the active fork of KeepassX. KeepassX/C are cross-platform Qt apps that use the same vault format as Keepass, a Windows app that apparently will run under Mono as well.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by zie on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:18PM (#15937223)
1password used to be the best paid solution out there, and Keepass(in various versions) the best free/OSS version.

These days AgileBits(the 1password people) are doing everything they can to get everyone onto a subscription plan, and are breaking local vaults slowly. Most people don't seem to recommend it anymore.

Now you have other options:

* KeepassXC (the latest seemingly well-recommended keepass variant - but there are a bunch of them)

* Bitwarden (it's OSS and can support author(s) with payment. Can run on your own server/machine while still supporting cross device sync)

* Pass (and the go variant, and the Qt variant) uses GPG under the hood, basically just a directory/git repo full of encrypted text files. Sync across devices is your problem.

I'm seriously evaluating Bitwarden to replace 1Password as it's pretty simple to understand and has a similar strategy as 1Password security wise, but is OSS.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by senectus1 on Saturday December 16, 2017 @12:01AM (#15937814)
+1 for BitWarden
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Cknight70 on Friday December 15, 2017 @03:37PM (#15934866)
I'd recommend Keepass.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by bcaulfield on Friday December 15, 2017 @03:45PM (#15934939)
Thoughts on LastPass? Good? Bad? Cromulent?
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by WorldMaker on Friday December 15, 2017 @04:58PM (#15935579)
The biggest benefit I see to KeePass over LastPass is sync/cloud choice. LastPass I file in the category of password managers [1] that are more new-user-friendly than KeePass because they directly handle cross-device sync on their own cloud offerings.

However, I like the flexibility to use any "file sync" tool I want to pass KeePass files around between my devices (or none at all, depending on the threat model of individual password files). That opens up flexibility to use things like Keybase File Share and Resilio Sync Encrypted Shares where you have additional options in in-transfer and at-rest encryption of your files.

[1] In that category some security-minded friends that I trust have done their own research on the subject recommend Dashlane over LastPass.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by stephengillie on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:02PM (#15937166)
Windows and Android KeePass apps interoperate well over Dropbox.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Cknight70 on Friday December 15, 2017 @04:00PM (#15935053)
Don't know if Last pass is good since I've never used it. I know its closed source and it has had numerous security exploits with it, though they seem to get fixed in a timely manner. That's just the negatives though it may be a good password manager for all I know about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LastPass#Security_issues
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by bllguo on Friday December 15, 2017 @05:59PM (#15935976)
There have been security issues with LastPass. When Firefox switched to webextensions and broke lastpass, I switched to bitwarden, on the recommendation of other HN users
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by INTPenis on Friday December 15, 2017 @06:56PM (#15936349)
I use pass(1) personally. It's just a shell wrapper for vim and gpg.

But I'd recommend keepass if you want something graphical.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Elvewyn on Friday December 15, 2017 @09:21PM (#15937035)
Pass has QTPass, if you want to use it with a GUI!
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by darren_ on Friday December 15, 2017 @07:57PM (#15936651)
I just type a long string of random crap into the password field on sign-up and recover it with my 2-factor protected gmail account every time i actually need to log-in. In practise for the services I use this is almost never.

This technique might not work so well for people who actually have to share devices, log out of things, etc.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by katastic on Friday December 15, 2017 @08:44PM (#15936856)
So wait... you don't remember any of your passwords or write them down and hope you can recover them whenever you need them?
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by hungerstrike on Friday December 15, 2017 @06:55PM (#15936345)
I use KeePass and KeePass Touch because I'm not paying some service to store my password for me.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by scrollaway on Friday December 15, 2017 @08:31PM (#15936798)
(Pasting an old comment as reply, hope it's helpful!)

If you're just starting, here's some guidance on setting up a password manager.

First of all: Don't be afraid of using one. It's not just more secure, it's super convenient. Never again will you ask yourself: Did I make an account for this website/service? What email did I use? Never again will you have to remember a password. Using a password manager is a quality of life improvement.

KeepassXC is what I recommend to people at this point. It's free and you own your data (your passwords). They live wherever you want them to live. There are plenty of online services that are supposedly more convenient but I have to say I trust them less -- YMMV (1Password is the best I'm aware of).

https://keepassxc.org

If you do use keepassxc, you get the added benefit of being able to store 2FA settings in it as well (if you store them in the same database as your passwords, be aware that you lose the security benefit of a second factor, however it is still more secure than not having 2FA enabled due to the One-time password component).

Put every account you ever made and ever make into keepass. Enable 2fa wherever you don't have it enabled. Add login URLs and notes. Generate your passwords from keepass itself; the password generator is really powerful and lets you very easily deal with site-specific shitty password limitations. I'm telling you this because, seriously, it's incredibly convenient to have this stuff as long as you're rigorous about maintaining it.

Oh, also, keepass has the full history of all your passwords. Need to look up an old password? Go into details and look at "History". You can also attach files to items (items don't have to be accounts at all, you can use keepassxc as a simple encrypted storage db).

Mobile support: Keepass2Android. Best android client, with google drive support. iOS I have no idea, suggestions welcome.

IMPORTANT: BE STUPIDLY PARANOID AND RIGOROUSLY CAREFUL ABOUT YOUR MASTER PASSWORD. That thing, together with your keepass database, unlocks all your accounts ever. Use a really long passphrase that you will never have to write down (if you do decide to write it down because you don't trust yourself, store it in a safety deposit box, don't put it in a bloody drawer). Make sure the device you unlock the database on is malware-free.

PS: Wondering what's up with Keepass vs. KeepassX vs. KeepassXC? Keepass is the original app, written in .NET but with poor multi-platform support. KeepassX is a rewrite in Qt and is a fantastic password manager, but has gone unmaintained recently. The open source community picked up the slack in the KeepassXC fork (after continuing countless attempts to upstream the patches) and has implemented lots of powerful features. I've switched to it and at this point I strongly believe it's the better client.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by inetknght on Friday December 15, 2017 @06:06PM (#15936027)
I use KeePass.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Globz on Friday December 15, 2017 @08:11PM (#15936717)
KeePass + VeraCrypt container, never failed me. Before that I used TrueCrypt but it is no longer trustable.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by _qbxp on Friday December 15, 2017 @09:16PM (#15937011)
What's the VeraCrypt container for? Isn't the DB already encrypted?
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Globz on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:50PM (#15937441)
Yes but because I sync KeePass over Dropbox I want to hide the true content of my data and + it adds another security layer to break before getting to my Password vault.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by mehrdadn on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:34PM (#15937325)
> Before that I used TrueCrypt but it is no longer trustable.

Really? Why?

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by Globz on Friday December 15, 2017 @10:54PM (#15937464)
Well unless you are talking about TrueCrypt "next" - https://truecrypt.ch/ then yeah I guess this one is safe but I was talking about the original version from - http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/

WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues

This page exists only to help migrate existing data encrypted by TrueCrypt.

The development of TrueCrypt was ended in 5/2014 after Microsoft terminated support of Windows XP. Windows 8/7/Vista and later offer integrated support for encrypted disks and virtual disk images. Such integrated support is also available on other platforms (click here for more information). You should migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images supported on your platform.

Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by mehrdadn on Sunday December 17, 2017 @05:48PM (#15948121)
Oh, I did mean the original version. I was just asking because as far as I know, nobody has found any serious flaw in it. The developers have only stated that it may contain unfixed security issues because they are no longer supporting it. Consider that if any security issue was fixed in any of TrueCrypt's forks, then people would be saying TC is known to be insecure, and as far as I know this is not the case. So if you expect there to be any vulnerabilities in TC, you should also expect the same to be true for VC or TC.next, etc.
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by dewiz on Friday December 15, 2017 @07:14PM (#15936452)
Enpass, it's well integrated into browser and doesn't force to trust some random cloud
Re:Microsoft forced users to install a password manager with... by dboreham on Friday December 15, 2017 @08:58PM (#15936932)
gpg/pass