How do you manage your passwords?

[kaput]

My ability to keep track of the login details for the hundreds of sites and applications that require them has reached a breaking point. The login process for things I don't use daily has degraded into guessing what my username is and then doing password recovery to create a new password, which I almost always forget again before the next login. Despite being a bad practice, it's been working fine until I recently lost an account because I can't remember the username that was assigned when I registered. It's time to get this under control.

What I ultimately need is a secure way to maintain a list of sites/applications, the username, and the (unique) password for each. Ironically, the most secure solution I've come up with is to physically write them down on a sheet of paper kept near the computer; however, this doesn't work if I am anywhere other than at my desk and it makes tracking changes cumbersome.

I know I'm not the only one with this problem. How do you manage yours?

[D'z Nutz]

I know there's a lot more elegant solutions out there, but I've been using Password Safe for well over the last decade:

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

I can transfer my password database across Windows, Linux, and OSX and there's Android and iOS clients (though I've never tried them myself).

Some guys at work use iCloud Keychain or 1Password, but habits die hard for me and I've never had a reason to switch.

[ExtraSlow]

When I had a job, I was keeping all of them written down in a book I kept beside my computer. I also got really fast at requesting a new password for sites I don't use often, like ticketmaster. Probably request a new password damn near every time there!

[The_Rural_Juror]

I use Dashlane.

Lots of free options to choose from if you don't care about syncing.. I think 1password has a sale right now.

[killramos]

i use icloud synced notes on my iPhone for the most part. Also icloud keychain and google chrome password remember feature.

[jwslam]

I pick from this list
http://globalnews.ca/news/2463385/th...make-the-list/

Passwords are not so much my problem as "your username has been taken", "your username is too short", "you cannot use symbols in your username"

[taemo]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
I know there's a lot more elegant solutions out there, but I've been using Password Safe for well over the last decade:

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

I can transfer my password database across Windows, Linux, and OSX and there's Android and iOS clients (though I've never tried them myself).

Some guys at work use iCloud Keychain or 1Password, but habits die hard for me and I've never had a reason to switch.

+1, we still use passwordsafe at work

[pheoxs]

I used a base password that covers all the usual password requirements plus a code for each site so that every password is unique but easy to remember. For example P@55word covers the letter, capital, number, symbol and length requirements most siites use, then I append something specific to the site in the middle, let's say the first 3 letters of the site, say 'bey' for beyond. So my PW here would be P@55beyword, Gmail would be P@55gmaword, and so on.

Each password is unique to a site but can be remembered for every site

[sabad66]

I use 1Password on my iphone. Synced to the cloud and unlocked with my fingerprint. I quite like it and recommend it to everyone.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
Some guys at work use iCloud Keychain or 1Password, but habits die hard for me and I've never had a reason to switch.

This is pretty much why I use LastPass. It was the first one I used so it will likely be the last one I use.

[nzwasp]

Mostly keep it in my head and then if I forget something I use the forgot password option to generate a new one.

At work we used to use passwordsafe.

[Alterac]

We use keypass at work and I use it at home, only downside is no sync to your mobile devices, etc.

I suppose you could use it in conjunction with dropbox/gdrive/etc.



I know a few people that use lastpass but im wary about storing all my passwords online.. (cause im nuts).

[HiTempguy1]

I have the passwords in a text file on my desktop and a keep-me file on my phone (which is completely unlocked, no passcode to enter).

I stopped caring, "internet security" is a joke nowadays. If you use the internet or technology in general, I personally feel that you have to be willing to accept the fact that your information could be stolen at any moment.

I am sure there are better ways to do it as listed, but I've kind of given up

[googe]

1Password, good enough that I actually paid for it.

Especially on my phone, with fingerprint ID, because typing that stuff out is annoying.

It has an option to sync over local wifi, so if you don't want your passwords sent up to the cloud, it still works

[SportEL]

mSecure

[schocker]

I have been using lastpass for a bit over a year. Great app, browser plugins also finger print protected which I believe 1password just got on android at least.

[kaput]

I'm liking the look of mobile-based solutions like 1password or lastpass but I have trust issues with apps in general. As a below average idiot that knows nothing about computer security, given all the major security failures in the news, how do I know I can trust a third party company and the cloud with potential access to everything I do? What if they get hacked? What if they go bankrupt? What if the app fails and I lose all my accounts (is there offline backup)?

[speedog]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
I have the passwords in a text file on my desktop and a keep-me file on my phone (which is completely unlocked, no passcode to enter).

I stopped caring, "internet security" is a joke nowadays. If you use the internet or technology in general, I personally feel that you have to be willing to accept the fact that your information could be stolen at any moment.

I am sure there are better ways to do it as listed, but I've kind of given up

Heh, mine are in a password protected Excel file in a Dropbox folder.

[schocker]

Originally posted by kaput
I'm liking the look of mobile-based solutions like 1password or lastpass but I have trust issues with apps in general. As a below average idiot that knows nothing about computer security, given all the major security failures in the news, how do I know I can trust a third party company and the cloud with potential access to everything I do? What if they get hacked? What if they go bankrupt? What if the app fails and I lose all my accounts (is there offline backup)?

Check out how last pass does it, I am assuming others are similar.
https://lastpass.com/how-it-works/

Part of it:

Local-Only Encryption

User data is encrypted and decrypted at the device level. Data stored in the vault is kept secret, even from LastPass.

Private Master Password

The user’s master password, and the keys used to encrypt and decrypt user data, are never sent to LastPass’ servers, and are never accessible by LastPass.

[PeterGTiR]

Originally posted by kaput
I'm liking the look of mobile-based solutions like 1password or lastpass but I have trust issues with apps in general. As a below average idiot that knows nothing about computer security, given all the major security failures in the news, how do I know I can trust a third party company and the cloud with potential access to everything I do? What if they get hacked? What if they go bankrupt? What if the app fails and I lose all my accounts (is there offline backup)?

I'm not a computer wizard, but I read an article about these password apps once. The apps that store your passwords online keep it within an encrypted file on their servers. And someone could only decode the file if they have the private key (which in most cases is just you).

You should consider using KeePass2 as it stores your passwords on your hard drive in an encrypted file.