one minor inconvenience with auto-type is that your passwords don't auto fill by themselves, but I have it set to the hotkey alt+x which makes it quick to trigger with my thumb and after doing it this way for nearly 2 years now i barely notice
another downside with auto-type is that not all websites put their full names in the browser title bar so auto-type won't show you your related passwords in some cases. to fix that you can install a browser extension that puts the full web url in titlebar https://github.com/erichgoldman/add-url-to-window-title
Instead of modifying the browser title, I use AutoTypeSearch plugin for Keepass, that opens a dialog allowing me to suggest entries in case of no matches.
There is also another plugin that allows search using both URL and title -- "WebAutoType".
These two plugins together make the Keepass experience almost seamless.
I've been running this setup for about a decade,since some big breach (I forget which one) made it clear to me that using the same or similar passwords across multiple sites was not gonna fly any longer.
The initial time investment was surprisingly heavy - I iterated through every online login I could find for myself (searching through email history mostly for signups confirmations) and changed the password on every account I had. Took about two full days.
The only one that still jumps out to me is browser extensions—I'm pretty sure none of the major browsers allow that without user approval within the browser. You'd have to do something nasty which would require root.
I've admittedly never tried it, but as far as I understand, installing an extension in Firefox just involves copying the corresponding .xpi file to the profile folder (which is owned by the user, not root) and modifying a few configuration files (e.g. extensions.json). I don't see why some other program wouldn't be able to do that.
If root access were required, you'd have to supply your root password every time you wanted to install an extension.
This is in addition to the fact that Firefox has absolutely mandatory code signing for extensions (the only recourse is to recompile Firefox). That's something I'm very much not happy about, but does have upsides.
>Firefox has absolutely mandatory code signing for extensions
That helps I guess, but there are clearly still malicious extensions that can pass the automated tests and get signed. Even if that wasn't possible, you could probably use some userscript extension and load malicious scripts that way.
I obviously haven't spent time trying to break this, but I would assume the config file is hashed. You probably could replace the whole profile, but that would be very noticeable to the user.
Perfect security doesn't exist, of course, so somewhere in the middle lies a good compromise that trades off risk and convenience. For me keepass on a synced drive hits the mark.
Not sure what the solution would be if you don't trust local programs - Keepass' paste method already bypasses the clipboard IIRC by entering directly into the fields.
I believe the point the article is making is that any browser extension to auto fill is inherently insecure for architectural reasons.
I find it odd someone so serious about password managers would recommend KeePassX which hasn't seen a release since 2016. Perhaps they meant the KeePassXC fork.
No, that is not what the article said. The article said that password managers that insert elements into the webpage are insecure. You don’t need need to do that to autofill passwords.
Just to be clear, when I say autofill I'm not suggesting that it fills in passwords with zero interaction, but when you're on a website that Bitwarden has a password for, it shows a little flag on the extension icon, and you can click on it to fill the password.
Strongbox is fantastic on iOS
Yeap, but now you have to trust (there's really no open source on iOS, as there's no reproducible builds or way to verify the code) on some guy and hope for the best.
1. Password manager for PC / Laptop: KeePassXC. It's not built into your browser, it's a seperate application. It's totally open source, and trusted by many. It also supports two factor authentication, I use a passphrase and a key file. Supports TOTP. Has a ton of "premium" features, totally free. It's awesome.
2. Syncing application: Google Drive. Sync your KeePass database using Google Drive (or whatever other sync application you want). KeePassXC supports merging databases if there's ever a conflict, as rare as those are. This is secure, because the KeePass database file is encrypted, and Google Drive / Google will never see the unencrypted database.
3. Password manager for phone: KeePass2Android. Not sure what the options are for Apple, but I'm sure they exist. Allows you to open your KeePassXC database from Google Drive.
4. Browser support: KeePassXC-Browser. Allows you to autofill your username / password / TOTP from your KeePassXC application to Chrome / Firefox.
Totally free, secure, convenient, and syncs to all your devices. Also comes with excellent redundancy for your password database so you'll never lose it. I've been using this setup for years flawlessly.