I keep seeing people highly recommend them, but I’ve always thought it wasn’t very secure.

  • LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    I think they can be much more secure than:

    • remembering your ( probably weak ) passwords

    • writing passwords on paper, which is slow, you can lose paper, break it, or someone can steal it

    • storing passwords in unencrypted text file

    • reusing passwords/password!

    I use KeepassXC, which is offline, encrypted password manager. Every password is stored in one file, which to access, I must enter the one password I do remember. I recommend having backups of this file.

    It has password generator included, so all my password are long, strong and unique. It also can auto fill password/login which saves time.

    To increase security of your account even further you should also use multiple factor authentication, for example app which generates one time codes on your phone offline. It will protect you, even if your password gets leaked, or cracked.

    • Sc00ter@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Does this make it so that you can only access all/any of your accounts from 1 computer ever?

      • LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        No, i keep multiple copies of this file on different devices and I sync them using Syncthing.

        However if you want to access your password database from many devices, using online password manager, like Bitwarden, would probably be easier.

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      If you write it on paper, include the same short word on the end of all your passwords that you don’t write down. Password is Hunter2duck but you only write down Hunter2.

      *Actually this might be a good idea for password managers too. Brb. **I wonder if hackers thought of this too. If so this could be easy to crack if they get past the password manager. Maybe inserting a letter into the password after the nth character would work better.

      • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I write my passwords on paper in code, like my dad taught me to do.

        However, just a personal anectdote, my uncle passed suddenly and he had written all his passwords (not in code) on a spreadsheet with each account, which he then printed. I promise you, this single piece of paper was one of the most helpful things I could’ve asked for in sorting out all of his assets. It was a genuine lifesaver. Now I often think that maybe I should be sharing my password with an S.O. or someone else close to me just to make their life easier if I were to die tomorrow.

          • PlexSheep@infosec.pub
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            2 days ago

            I mean… Can’t happen if you keep your stuff encrypted like with KeePassXC. Even if someone gets my password database, it’s useless for them since they don’t know how to decrypt it. That’s why I don’t use some online service, though using one of the online services is certainly better than reusing a weak remembered password.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              1 day ago

              Yep. Theoretically a vulnerability could be found (or manufactured) for KeePass, but it’s much less likely than an online service, and it’s extremely common and open source, so if there are issues then there’s a fairly good chance it’ll be noticed.