What is a password manager?
A password manger is a software that stores all your online credentials and is encrypted by a master password.This helps you to organize , store and auto type your credentials.
Why do you need a password manager?
The answer is very simple, In this day and age we have a “lot of online accounts”. Now keeping secure passwords and different passwords for each account is not an easy task.This is why you should start using a password manger, So you only have to remember a single password for all your accounts.
Bitwarden
Bitwarden is a free and open source password manager,There are also other paid plans. The free version you can sync a unlimited devices and store unlimited passwords.In the paid plan, there is option where your family could retrieve all your password after your demise plus more features like advanced 2FA. Bitwarden is cross platform and the web extensions are available for both chromium based browsers and Firefox. All the passwords and notes are encrypted and stored in the cloud.You can store TOTP in Bitwarden , it supports auto fill and also have a in-built password generator. Your vault can be unlocked by your biometrics.Download Bitwarden
KeepassXC
KeepassXC is also a open source and free. It is the most secure and private password manager. It does not require any user information, because you don’t need an account everything it stored locally and encrypted.There is a web extension for KeepassXC for auto fill and it is available in all platforms. You can sync your vault with nextcloud or any other cloud solutions.It does have a password generator and the vault does support 2FA, like a hardware key or a keyfile. Download KeepassXC
Specture
Spectre is not a password manager and more a password cipher.You don’t need an account or need a master password, all you need is a name , the domain of the web site and a spectre secret (“which can be anything”). It uses algorithms to create a password from your name , domain and the spectre secrete. The generator password will be the same provided you have given your name, domain and the spectre secrete same, each time.I recommend this for creating passwords for encrypted files or any other service, this is a highly secure way of keeping passwords and also it requires the maximum effort. Use specture
Guidelines to follow:
- Keep your master password more than 20 characters(password required to open your password manger)
- Don’t use a password , Use a passphrase for master password .
- In your password manager : change your default password generator length to 25 (This makes it very very hard , to crack your password through brute force)
Final Thoughts:
I’ll recommend Bitwarden for the 90% of the people reading this, if you like to get creative with technology, then KeepassXC is for you. Spectre can used in wild cases like password for encrypting your backups, or for something very secure. You can write down the name, domain and spectre secrete on a paper , because most of them does not know what it is used for.
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