Solved Which is your preferred password manager

clam1952 · Dec 1, 2022

kelper said:
I don't think that's right. The source code won't allow the hacker to decode the passwords. I'm not bothered.
But banking passwords are all in my memory, nowhere else.

May be an issue if they have the source of the encryption code.

Winuser · Dec 1, 2022

Anibor_11 said:
Same here, except for Dashlane. Don´t know what it is.

Password Manager App for Home, Mobile, Business | Dashlane

Live a safer life online with Dashlane password manager: Store and fill in all your passwords, personal information, and payments.

www.dashlane.com

tinmar49 · Dec 1, 2022

I have never had one, and try to make sure none of my passwords are saved anywhere, that way is the only guarantee I have of no hacker being able to get hold of mine. All of my passwords are a minimum of 20 characters, numbers, upper and lower case letters, with some symbols thrown in

jimbo45 · Dec 1, 2022

Human Brain and maybe offline pencil and paper notebook etc.

If it's not on the computer it can't be hacked.

Icelandic special characters also help as most hackers won't have an Icelandic capable keyboard. Most of those "Indian I.T off shored systems" don't even know where Iceland is -- or thinks it's just a U.K grocery chain.

This sort of character won´t appear on most Indian or N.Korean hacker keyborads,

ð

For (Iceland Grocery UK" )actually not too horrible in parts of the UK I´ve visited öö use the big warewhouse ones not the tiny hifgh st shops.

Iceland.co.uk

Shop online at Iceland Groceries and explore award winning products and convenient delivery slots. Free Next Day Delivery on orders over £40

www.iceland.co.uk

Had a call from a really great colleague of mine I've known for years (around 30 -- we were at Uni together) who now lives in Guildford Surrey U.K -- not by any means the poorest or most deprived area of that "embattled island" curently saying their supermarkets and even the water company were running out of Water.

Hope you guys in the UK make it through XMAS -- the UK usually can sort itself out and it's done so much in the past to help others - but there's something absolutely that seems beyond their capability to fix it currently as the whole island seems to be on Strike. (Maybe the "Br...T") or the Chaos central that's operating there - but this is generating into politics which is a place for different Forums.

Cheers
jimbo

kelper · Dec 1, 2022

clam1952 said:
May be an issue if they have the source of the encryption code.

The encryption code is open source! That's why it is secure.

TraderGary · Dec 1, 2022

clam1952 said:
May be an issue if they have the source of the encryption code.

And the encryption is done on your own PC before it is uploaded to LastPass, so LastPass has no encryption source code. LastPass doesn't even have a way to look at your uploaded data. That's one of the reasons I like using LastPass.

kelper · Dec 1, 2022

LP must have the encryption source code! How else could you download it or use it on their website? Even if it only runs in your browser they must have it.

TraderGary · Dec 1, 2022

kelper said:
The encryption code is open source! That's why it is secure.

And the code is only used to "encrypt" anyway. The only way to decrypt is to have the key and since it was encrypted on your own PC before it was uploaded to LastPass, you are the only one with the key!

TraderGary · Dec 1, 2022

kelper said:
LP must have the encryption source code! How else could you download it or use it on their website? Even if it only runs in your browser they must have it.

No, no! That is false! Again, your data is encrypted on your own PC before it is uploaded to LastPass. LastPass only handles customer encrypted data and cannot decrypt it! Only the customer can decrypt their own data.

kelper · Dec 1, 2022

TG, we are at cross purposes here. I'm just pointing out that LP does have the encryption source code because it is included in the downloads so that it can operate on your phone or computer or, indeed, in your browser; It does not do the encryption on its own servers.

pparks1 · Dec 1, 2022

As discussed, the software has the encrption algorithm which allows it to encrypt/decrypt. The key is the key, and it's comprised of your email address and your master password. These are used together and hashed as the key for the decryption/encryption. So, without those 2 items, nothing stored or known by LastPass is going to help them out.

TraderGary · Dec 1, 2022

pparks1 said:
As discussed, the software has the encrption algorithm which allows it to encrypt/decrypt. The key is the key, and it's comprised of your email address and your master password. These are used together and hashed as the key for the decryption/encryption. So, without those 2 items, nothing stored or known by LastPass is going to help them out.

Bingo! The encryption/decryption is done "locally" and the LastPass servers have nothing to do with encrypting or decrypting your data! They can only identify which data is yours.

mart44 · Dec 2, 2022

jimbo45 said:
Had a call from a really great colleague of mine I've known for years (around 30 -- we were at Uni together) who now lives in Guildford Surrey U.K -- not by any means the poorest or most deprived area of that "embattled island" curently saying their supermarkets and even the water company were running out of Water.

Hope you guys in the UK make it through XMAS -- the UK usually can sort itself out and it's done so much in the past to help others - but there's something absolutely that seems beyond their capability to fix it currently as the whole island seems to be on Strike. (Maybe the "Br...T") or the Chaos central that's operating there - but this is generating into politics which is a place for different Forums.

Cheers
jimbo

I'm not too far away from where your colleague lives (about 10 miles) but I'm not really recognising the dire picture painted. No warnings of the taps running dry here. I use Iceland's luxury range meals a fair bit and just had a large order delivered (ordered online). No items were unavailable. Quite a bit ordered in for Christmas. Using Tesco deliveries (online order) for supermarket shopping and don't often go short of any item ordered. There's always a substitute offered if that happens. There are strikes, mostly brought on by the inflation rate but I wouldn't describe the situation as chaotic. The media might but then that's the media for you.

Try3 · Dec 2, 2022

jimbo45 said:
Most of those "Indian I.T off shored systems" don't even know where Iceland is -- or thinks it's just a U.K grocery chain.

Your racist characterisation of those from the Indian subcontinent is unacceptable.

Denis

Beaupeep · Dec 3, 2022

Don't think he means to be racist though it just could be interpreted that way.

TBH most in the Indian subcontinent are not very familiar with Iceland as they are with countries in Western Europe. And since Commonwealth countries all use UK (most common) or US English as spoken, communication & IT system languages, typing Icelandic characters would be difficult making it tough to hack passwords. I'd say the same goes for other European languages with some accented characters (in German, French for e.g.) or Cyrillic/Slavic language characters.

safron · Dec 4, 2022

Try3 said:
I use a list in Excel.
The file is password-protected [password to open rather than the pretty useless password to protect individual sheets].
The file is on a USB that lives on my main keyring that lives in my pocket on a chain.

Denis

I used to use a very sophisticated Excel workbook with a password generator and hidden sheet that automatically became visible when a variable code (a function of the day and date) was entered into a specific cell on an otherwise innocuous worksheet. The workbook was password protected. I gave it to a "technical" friend who broke the password and accessed the file in a matter of minutes, so don't assume an Excel password is truly secure.
Now I use KeePass, and it's worked very well. It's open-source, secure, and works off a LOCAL install, so we don't have to worry about security breaches (a la LastPass: Major password manager LastPass suffered a breach — again ) in the cloud. It also has hooks which permit populating fields in web forms without add-ins, a password generator, and other features. The file can also be easily synced on a home network. The UI isn't quite as friendly as some other PW Managers, but that hasn't been a big hurdle. Totally recommend!

TairikuOkami · Dec 4, 2022

safron said:
I gave it to a "technical" friend who broke the password and accessed the file in a matter of minutes, so don't assume an Excel password is truly secure.

That depends what version of Excel, the latest office suites have 256-bit AES password protection, previously none.

Cryptography and encryption in Office 2016 - Deploy Office

Explains the settings that you can use to encrypt data in Office, and provides information about compatibility with previous versions of Office.

learn.microsoft.com

I also encrypt the document with 7-zip on top of it, then again, there are backdoors everywhere.

An encrypted ZIP file can have two correct passwords — here's why

Password-protected ZIP archives are common means of compressing and sharing sets of files—from sensitive documents to malware samples to even malware (phishing "invoices" in emails). But, did you know it is possible for an encrypted ZIP file to have two correct passwords, with both producing the...

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Try3 · Dec 4, 2022

safron said:
I used to use a very sophisticated Excel workbook with a password generator and hidden sheet that automatically became visible when a variable code (a function of the day and date) was entered into a specific cell on an otherwise innocuous worksheet. The workbook was password protected. I gave it to a "technical" friend who broke the password and accessed the file in a matter of minutes, so don't assume an Excel password is truly secure.

If you needed a password to open the file, why did you bother with all that hidden sheet stuff?
How long was the password to open the file & how complex was it?
What version of Excel was it?

If you meant that just the hidden worksheet and/or the VBA was password-protected then I am not at all surprised that it was easy to hack into.

Denis

safron · Dec 4, 2022

Try3 said:
I use a list in Excel.
The file is password-protected [password to open rather than the pretty useless password to protect individual sheets].
The file is on a USB that lives on my main keyring that lives in my pocket on a chain.

Denis

Be careful about relying on a password protected MS Office document. I was using a very sophisticated Excel workbook until a more "technical" friend showed me how to bypass it with a easily obtained executable from the internet. Now I use KeePass, and although the UI leaves something to be desired, am very happy with it. It's open source, secure, and has the additional benefit of being able to populate fields on web forms without add-ins. It also uses a Local install, so you won't have to worry about a security breach like what recently happened (again) with LastPass, and can easily use a common file across all devices on a home network.

safron · Dec 4, 2022

Try3 said:
If you needed a password to open the file, why did you bother with all that hidden sheet stuff?
How long was the password to open the file & how complex was it?
What version of Excel was it?

If you meant that just the hidden worksheet and/or the VBA was password-protected then I am not at all surprised that it was easy to hack into.

Denis

I agree the added provision was limited. The workbook opened to an innocuous spreadsheet. If someone opened it, they wouldn't have necessarily know it contained passwords. The password was strong, but it was in an earlier version (2013) of Excel.