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Coping with the Avalanche of IDs and Passwords?

Posted by Cliff on from the information-overload dept.

Bitwick asks: "The number of web sites and other systems I need IDs and passwords for is finally becoming overwhelming. Right now, I tend to use a small selection of IDs and passwords. I know this isn't an ideal situation, but so far it has been the most practical. However, it has become clear to me that this needs to change. I am planning to get a USB keyfob and a password manager to keep track of my IDs and passwords. What experience have you had with password managers? What's good, what's bad, what features are important? Are there other reasonable and secure alternatives?"

2 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Password Safe by PktLoss · · Score: 4, Informative

    Password safe is awesome
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/

    Bruce Schneier recomends it in many/most of his monthly crypt-o-grams
    http://www.schneier.com/

    --
    paul reinheimer
  2. Keyring by adolf · · Score: 4, Informative

    I run Keyring on my Palm Pilot. It works well. I carry my Palm with me literally everywhere but at rock concerts, and it's very nice to have every obscure, seldom-used password securely available wherever I happen to be.

    All of my passwords are there, and a few other bits of even more important personal information.

    Stuff is encrypted, and lives in the Palm's RAM where it will be destroyed instantly upon power loss. So, if left in a bus terminal, chances are that the data will be gone before the hapless thief finds a charger for it to keep the RAM alive, let alone manages to crack the database or even recognize its existance.

    All I have to do is remember one passphrase.

    Stuff is also backed up to the machine that I hotsync to, where it remains encrypted on disk. While non-volatile, the machine does have the advantage of vastly increased physical security.

    And that isn't much of a backup regime, so all of the work-related passwords and data that might affect Other People get beamed via IR to a co-worker with a similar rig. This usually happens in the windowless basement I call "work," and is thus also reasonably secure despite its plaintext-edness.

    I've used Keyring on everything from old-school black-and-green Handsprings, to Treo 650s. It Just Works(tm). It is free. It is GPL'd.

    I'd go on, but I shouldn't have to...

    --
    Kid-proof tablet..