Password management

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DamageInc

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#237759 17-Jun-2018 09:25

Good morning,

What are your thoughts on password management?

Single password for all sites vs a random password for every login?

Password manager - yes or no?

Password manager vs browser based password management?

Have a great day

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#2038980 17-Jun-2018 09:35

I don't see any reason for not using a password manager and long random unique passwords.

freitasm

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#2038982 17-Jun-2018 09:41

You should never, ever use a single password for all sites. There's a thing called credential stuff, where bots will be used to try leaked email/passwords in other websites - and the chance of this hitting gold is pretty high if you reuse passwords.

Yes to password managers, not browsers. If using password managers then try using long passwords generated by the app. Use 2FA wherever available. Authy for 2FA since it synchronises between desktop and mobile devices so if you reset your smartphone you're not locked out of services.

Visit https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check if your email's leaked and https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords to check if your password has leaked.

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Linux

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#2038983 17-Jun-2018 09:44

Password manager for sure

John

DamageInc

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#2038988 17-Jun-2018 10:11

freitasm:

Visit https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check if your email's leaked and https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords to check if your password has leaked.

Dam not a good result visiting the above links.

Do you use Authy as well as a password manager or just Authy?

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DamageInc

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#2038990 17-Jun-2018 10:12

Ok this leads me to my next question please - which password manager?

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tdgeek

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#2038995 17-Jun-2018 10:17

freitasm:

You should never, ever use a single password for all sites. There's a thing called credential stuff, where bots will be used to try leaked email/passwords in other websites - and the chance of this hitting gold is pretty high if you reuse passwords.

Yes to password managers, not browsers. If using password managers then try using long passwords generated by the app. Use 2FA wherever available. Authy for 2FA since it synchronises between desktop and mobile devices so if you reset your smartphone you're not locked out of services.

Visit https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check if your email's leaked and https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords to check if your password has leaked.

Im guilty..... But yes, I know. Ive been slowly appending a clue word to a random characterset to minimise forgetting them, and using Apple's password manager. Keychain.

Guilty as charged, but yep, easy for me, but silly too

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#2038998 17-Jun-2018 10:23

DamageInc:

Ok this leads me to my next question please - which password manager?

Lastpass works well on pretty well every platform I'm aware of, and it is managed online. I use this through all my browsers. Using Lastpass instead of in-browser management means that I don't have to start inputting all my passwords again if, in the future, I decide to switch from Firefox to Chrome, Vivaldi, Edge, etc.

Because I am the paranoid type, I also back up all passwords into Password Safe https://pwsafe.org/ where I can keep track of other notes, various details, etc. that need to be kept private.

freitasm

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#2039005 17-Jun-2018 11:05

@DamageInc:

freitasm:

Visit https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check if your email's leaked and https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords to check if your password has leaked.

Dam not a good result visiting the above links.

Do you use Authy as well as a password manager or just Authy?

I use LastPass on my browser and smartphone. Authy is a 2FA (SECOND FACTOR) so it's in addition to your password.

I recommend Authy beause Google Authenticator doesn't do backup of your codes and you lose your phone or reset it, you are in trouble.

You can enable 2FA on Geekzone on your profile page.

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sidefx

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#2039031 17-Jun-2018 11:35

My setup is Keepass for everything, synched through dropbox - has an app for pretty much every platform I've come across. And 2FA where possible (though should really use it more)

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amiga500

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#2039055 17-Jun-2018 12:52

Password Gorilla seems to work well and the password files work in Linux and Windows.

xpd

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#2039094 17-Jun-2018 13:15

Mix of lastpass and keepass.

XPD / Gavin

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Deamo

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#2039099 17-Jun-2018 13:26

1Password here. More costly than others, but I like it better.

richms

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#2039114 17-Jun-2018 13:47

Just be aware with password managers that not all sites have the same length limitations on the new user fields as the login fields, so you can set a password that it too long to be able to log in with again.

I tend to go for 16 characters or so most places. That should be accepted since that is something that is very easy for a person to type and remember. Going out to 64 is pretty pointless and breaks on many sites.

Richard rich.ms

mdf

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#2039116 17-Jun-2018 14:14

I've posted these links before (they're 5 years old now), but these articles were my wake-up call to password security.

Nate Anderson, a journalist writing for Ars Technica with no particular password expertise, turned himself into a password cracker using consumer grade equipment and free software in the space of a day. Experienced password crackers can crack up to 90 per cent of passwords without breaking a sweat.

I use LastPass with 2FA enabled. Works across desktop browsing and mobile phones (much, much better on Android than iOS though). It doesn't work perfectly on 100% of websites, but I strongly suspect that's more to do with the website design than LastPass itself.

jonathan18

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#2039125 17-Jun-2018 15:00

Lastpass and Authy combo for me.

I had been a paid customer of Lastpass (mobile app initially required a paid account), but found when the sub ended earlier this year I lost none of the functionality - so there's no need to pay anything if running both Lastpass and Authy (amongst various free options).

OP - be mindful that iOS doesn't play wonderfully with Lastpass (like many such apps and iOS!), so you may have to sometimes manually copy across passwords from the Lastpass app into a login window when logging in (or alternatively you can use the built-in browser). There's no such issue with Android devices (for which the Lastpass window will usually pop up) or in a browser.

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