Open source password management solutions for individuals, teams, and business organizations.

Bitwarden

bitwarden

Disclaimer I am not and have never worked for Bitwarden, and I don't have and have never had any insights. I am a user of Bitwarden and all in this article is based on my observation and information provided by Bitwarden support. I do not think Bitwarden is a bad product, or by no means want to suggest migrating off, or not to onboard. Look, mistakes happen. On contrary, I've been using it for a couple of years and found it good and I plan to keep paying for my subscription. Goals Give other users facing the same problem a quick solution in StackOverflow/Reddit style. Learn from the error how to roll out changes without affecting users. How to solve this Missing items (logins, notes, cards) are the items in your organization(s) with no Collection(s) assigned. To solve this: Login to Bitwarden in a browser with your admin account. Open the Admin console. To do that, click the nine dots/squares icon next to your profile picture on the top right corner and click the "Admin console" on the popup that appeared. Choose the organization the items you want to make visible are in on the left pane. On the Filters section click the "All items". Now, on the table to the right of the Filters section you will see all your items, including Collections each item is in. The missing items are the items that are not in any collection, in other words, items for which the Collections column is empty. Add items into at least one collection. I did not find a good way to identify items not in any collection and do mass add, so the only obvious way I see is to click 3 vertical dots on the item's row, choose the Collections item on the drop down, and assign one or multiple Collections. Repeat for each item. So, what happened and what can I do not to make the same mistake OMG I lost my passwords Today I tried to login to GitHub. I opened the site in a browser, clicked the Sign in button, and suddenly found that the Bitwarden shield Chrome extension has no numbers on it - Bitwarden did not have any details on the site. Wait, it worked before, how come it isn’t working now! Wait, what? There was the 2nd factor for the site stored in Bitwarden, have I completely lost access to my GitHub?. That must be some mistake. So, I opened Bitwarden app on my phone and found the login was not there either. I started checking other items in my vault, I still had some items, so it's not "everything" that is gone, but I also found that several other items that I had used recently or I was pretty sure had been there were missing. I was also sure I had not deleted anything from there. Ok, am I hacked then? Unlikely, as I use Yubikey as a 2nd factor, so someone either had to obtain physical access to my device AND my Yubikey, or it could've been some sophisticated malware. But why would one want to delete some items from my vault and not the others? So, I swept that option away. Ok, then what? I logged in to Bitwarden site with my account, and tried to search for the missing items there. The UI showed what I had seen in my Chrome extension, but no missing items. However, there I found the Trash folder, it was empty. The Trash folder contains any items removed within the last 30 days, and some of the missing items had been in use just a few days ago, so even if they had been deleted it still had to be there. Ok, it's time to ask for help. I sent an email to the support. They asked me whether the items were in an organization, said ,  pointed me out to the and suggested to check Collections and permissions. this can be due to flexible collections that we are currently in the process of rolling out documentation I did that and found that the items had not gone (phew), but they were still not visible. Terminology and sharing model Bitwarden sharing is based on Organization model. A person has an account with Bitwarden. Apart from a personal vault under the account where a person keeps their personal items, a person's account can be added to multiple organizations - their company's org, an open-source project contributor's org, a family org, etc. Each of these organizations keep items that belong to the org. However, not all users in the org should have access to all the items in the org, and they may also have different levels of access (edit, view, etc). To control this Bitwarden uses a "Collection" concept. Collection is a union of 3 things - items, users and access, so it dictates which users have specified level of access to which items. So, what happened In the past, the system allowed to add items to an organization without adding them to any collections. I don't know whether it was a bug or a feature, but that worked for me just fine and I tend to drop most of my logins to my Family org, adding those I want to share with my family members to corresponding collections, and keeping the rest outside of any collections. It was working for me either because I created those or because I was an admin, but I could see them just fine until today. Today, Bitwarden rolled out the new model to my account/org, and all the items that had not been explicitly added to any collection appeared in a virtual "unassigned" collection (my speculation, you cannot see it in the interface), and the access to the virtual collection got revoked from everyone including the admin. So, since the account got no permissions assigned (even the view) for those items, they disappeared from the list on my devices. Lessons we can learn These lessons are not recommendations for Bitwarden developers as Bitwarden may have some obligations and restrictions that prevent them from being applied directly (for example data collection). They are rather generic to a product and require taking product specifics into account. Observability, observability, observability. Without the right metrics developers go blind through mine fields, deadly traps and surrounded by hungry predators. Having metrics is vital. In this particular case metrics like "avg number of items available to a user" or more specific to the case "number of items in the unassigned collection" would allow to detect the problem either before rollout or on an early stage of it. We should be careful collecting different things though, metrics can be sensitive, for example - can collection of these metrics be considered as collecting user data? By some - sure, it will be. So, we should collect necessary metrics, but we need to be transparent on what is collected and why it's necessary. Know your system, but expect that users will not use it in the way you expected. What is the behavior now and what it will be after the change - now, it allows to use items not in collections, after the change, it will not. You expected users to put all the items in an org to at least one collection, but does the system allow items to be not in any collection? If so, what's the behavior? That's not what you put into design in the first place, but if that's possible (the system allows it to) - people will do it and you need to deal with this. Preserve the state of things. The state of the items that are not included in any collection is "they are visible and editable by an admin", make sure it will remain after the change. All the items have to be in an explicit collection? Fine, have the updater create "uncategorized" collection, add admin account to it and assign "view and edit" permission and add all the items that are not in collections to the new collection. Make sure the system allows to do only what it's supposed to and all the places have consistent behavior. We have a new requirement - items cannot exist outside a collection. Change the tooling to prevent removing it from all the collections. The Chrome plugin requires at least one collection to be chosen to move an item to an organization. However, the web UI in admin interface allows admins to uncheck all the collections, and thus remove it from any collection, wait, this contradicts the Chrome extension logic. Create tooling. I have a few hundred items in my org. Some have thousands. How are we supposed to move them to a collection? One by one? Your users will curse you, give them a tool. Communicate. Let users know that you've developed a new feature, or that you're going to make permission management more flexible. They will love to hear this. This requires some changes? They need to learn how to manage permissions in a new way? At least they will be ready and know what's going on, instead they find out that the old way is not working any longer and they have to learn the new way when they need to make changes ASAP. Things may go wrong. That's fine. But we should not surprise users, especially in a bad way.

How to Resolve Bitwarden's 'Some Logins Missing' Issue

If you are like me, you might be struggling to remember all the usernames and passwords to every darn site, account, bank, laptop, random devices, and what have you. I keep signing up to sites and apps and tracking all those usernames and passwords in my "Dory the forgetful fish" memory. At one point, I took to meticulously writing them all down in a notebook. But the notebook didn’t go everywhere with me. That plan failed miserably. Next, I created a text file and stored it on my laptop. Again, portability. I created multiple copies on multiple devices, forgot to update them, and you can imagine the chaos. Then I came up with the brilliant idea of mailing the username and password to myself. Each time I created an account on an obscure site, I quickly composed an email and hit send — to myself. Must be fail-proof right? Searchable, multi-device, and so on? Except, when you are searching through 80,000 emails, pretty much every word seems to have occurred at least a thousand times. So the search was not that simple. Around this time, Google started raising some ominous threats. It kept warning me that some passwords had been compromised. That was scary. If one password can be compromised, so can others. I have learned now that emails go around the world unencrypted and can easily be read by a kindergarten-level hacker. One learns. And one takes corrective action at once! I was pouring out my password sorrows to a friend when he suggested ! I have signed up for the free version and I already see so many benefits. Bitwarden Intuitive interface It took me less than 5 minutes to figure out and start using Bitwarden. It is absolutely simple to get it up and running for the basic purpose of storing usernames and passwords. Access anywhere This is a very basic requirement in today’s age. But it is still worth noting that Bitwarden is pretty seamless. I keep moving between devices and Bitwarden is always ready to show me what I want on any device. The intuitive interface comes in handy because not a lot changes between devices. Predictability — I love it. Searchable Since the app is not cluttered with any other information, it is easy to search for and find what I want in record time. I already have about 50 passwords on it and the list promises to grow. But the search hasn’t failed me yet. Of course, I need to be mindful of how to store the information. The text I supply better be meaningful. Password suggestions One of my biggest problems is coming up with unique passwords. The challenge gets worse because of all the rules — more than 8 characters, no spaces, one number, one special character, one uncle’s last name, one ex-boyfriend’s pet's name, and so on. By the end of it all, I have forgotten what I typed and I can’t replicate it in the ‘repeat password’ field. Here’s how Bitwarden helps. When I want to create a login on any site, I first open Bitwarden and make an entry. I capture the site URL, the login name, and then move to the password field. When I make an entry, Bitwarden suggests a nicely complex password. It also enables me to copy the password. So I simply paste the deliciously complex password onto whichever site I am trying to log in to. I can choose to use my own password too, but why would I bother taxing my already confused brain! Other features The free version has many other features. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what it offers, but I have what I need so far. Here are some cool things for the slightly geeky folks: You can set the login to timeout at a short interval in case you leave your device unattended. Time out - 2-factor authentication. If you are worried about security, Bitwarden allows you to set up an extra layer of authentication. 2FA - Obviously something you must not do. But if you absolutely have to, Bitwarden has a nice way of doing this. You don’t have to email passwords to others. You create something called an organization and invite another user into it. In the free version, you can only add one other user. Sharing passwords - For some reason, there is comfort in open-source tools. A greater sense of trust especially in matters related to security. Open-source - There is much more to Bitwarden. But as an ordinary user, this is as much as I currently need to use. It is serving me well. The only concern is that I still have to remember one password 🤣 — the password I set for Bitwarden. I suppose it is a small price to pay in exchange for freeing up my memory of zillion other passwords. This is my personal opinion. I am sharing this information because the tool has really helped me. Also published behind a paywall on: https://medium.com/illumination/do-you-struggle-to-manage-a-zillion-passwords-a954e9050915

Using a Password Manager: My Review of Bitwarden

What is Vaultwarden? is an alternative implementation of API written in Rust. It’s compatible with official Bitwarden clients and is a perfect choice for a self-hosted vault. Being written in Rust makes it lightweight, unlike the original Bitwarden which is written in C# and quite resource-heavy. Vaultwarden Bitwarden server Why Podman? Docker doesn’t work properly with systemd. The problem is that systemd doesn’t monitor a docker container but a docker client. It means if the container crashes but the client is running, the systemd will not restart the container. It’s caused by Dockers’ client-server architecture. There’s a workaround for it but using a native solution seems more reasonable. is an open-source, daemon-less, Linux-native tool to run containers. It was developed under standards and it works perfectly with systemd. Because of its daemon-less nature, it allows running containers under an arbitrary user. Podman OCI Install Podman I will show how to install podman in Ubuntu 20.10, for other distributions refer to : the official guide sudo apt update
sudo apt install podman Run Vaultwarden My normal setup includes the admin panel enabled and registration of new users disabled. To enable the admin panel we have to pass an environment variable. It is recommended to use a long random string for this value. We can generate it using the command: ADMIN_TOKEN openssl rand openssl rand -base64 48 One more thing to do before we run our vault is to create a data directory. In this directory Vaultwarden stores its config and database: sudo mkdir /vw-data Now everything is ready to run Vaultwarden: sudo podman pull vaultwarden/server:latest
sudo podman run -d --name vaultwarden.pod -e ADMIN_TOKEN=YOUR_RANDOM_TOKEN_GOES_HERE -v /vw-data/:/data/ -p 8000:80 vaultwarden/server:latest Create systemd service Create a service file under : /etc/systemd/system/vaultwarden.pod.service sudo touch /etc/systemd/system/vaultwarden.pod.service I like to have the suffix to differentiate native services from containerized services. .pod Put the following content to the service file: [Unit]
Description=Vaultwarden/Bitwarden Server (Rust Edition)
Documentation=https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden
Wants=syslog.service

[Service]
Restart=on-failure
ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start -a vaultwarden.pod
ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop vaultwarden.pod

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target Here are a few things worth pointing out: is instructing to only restart the service when it exits with non-zero code. It allows us to stop the service using the as well as the command. Restart=on-failure podman stop systemctl To store the container’s logs to syslog we have . The option instructs to attach the container’s STDOUT and STDERR. podman start -a -a is needed to start our container on system boot. The option basically means that the service should be started when all network services are up and the system is ready to accept logins. If you omit the option your service will start on boot. WantedBy multi-user.target WantedBy NOT The option tells that syslog should be started when our service is being started. However, it’s a weak requirement and the service will still start if syslog fails to start. In other words, we would like to have logs but it’s not mandatory for our service. Wants=syslog.service Reload the daemon: sudo systemctl daemon-reload And check the Vaultwarden status: sudo systemctl status vaultwarden.pod
● vaultwarden.pod.service - Vaultwarden/Bitwarden Server (Rust Edition)
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vaultwarden.pod.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-05-26 15:25:08 UTC; 1 day 20h ago
       Docs: https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden
   Main PID: 19461 (podman)
      Tasks: 11 (limit: 1112)
     Memory: 26.9M
     CGroup: /system.slice/vaultwarden.pod.service
             ├─19461 /usr/bin/podman start -a vaultwarden.pod
             └─19574 /usr/libexec/podman/conmon --api-version 1 -c e2a6a794ddf8bb74308a9f64b98871913f6a46a8370c921dcb353f5db721cea0 -u e2a6a794ddf8bb74308a9f64b98871913f6a46a8370c921dcb353f5db721cea0 -r /usr/bin/crun -b /var/lib/containers/storage/overlay-containers/e2a6a7> Now you can stop/start the Vaultwarden service: sudo systemctl stop vaultwarden.pod
sudo systemctl start vaultwarden.pod Previously published . here

Running Vaultwarden in a Container as a systemd Service Using Podman

Password Management and Protection - Part 1: The Basics

This is the 13-year journey that resulted in , a different approach to password management. Here goes articles[0] of articles.length == 2. Neulock Part I It was back in 2011. was still movie material; people communicated using monochromatic doodle faces instead of Pepe the Frog and Shiba Inu doges, and Daenerys Targaryen was the little girl who made the barbaric Khal Drogo find love. Contagion It was then that Google Chrome first made that offer. Do you want Google Chrome to save your password for this site? Save this password? Is that a thing browsers do now? Wow, thanks, Chrome, that’s so convenient! Come to think of it, I type most passwords on a web browser, so this looks like a great place to save them. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? Chrome is a program installed on my computer. computer! I’m a seasoned Debian Linux power user, and nowhere in the universe is there a safer place than my hard drive! MY Sure, Chrome, go ahead. Save this password, and the next one, and every password I type in your input fields. Deception Until I bought another computer. After ditching the pre-installed Windows for whatever Linux distro I fancied at the time, the next thing to do was install Chrome. Firefox Quantum was still six years away, so there wasn’t much choice. Sign in with your Google account? Sure, why not? Let’s go check Facebook or whatever, and… hey, do you remember my username, Chrome? All right, let’s sign in to Facebook. Wait, why is the password field already filled in with asterisks? No, dear Chrome, this must be a bug, I’ve just bought this computer, your local database is pristine. You’ll realize your mistake once I click the login button. And… I’m in? I went to check Chrome settings immediately. What I saw only increased my horror. All the websites and usernames I had been saving were there, on a list. Plaintext passwords were only a click away. Two expectations had been broken. The first and most important thing is that I never expected Chrome to upload my passwords to Google’s servers without asking for consent. They asked me to my passwords, not to share them! save The second expectation was wishful thinking on my part. Shame on me. Google is one of the coolest tech companies in the world, and its engineers are supposed to be geniuses doing the impossible between ping-pong matches at the Googleplex. I thought Chrome was storing my passwords in some super-secure fashion and only retrieving each password at the right time to inject it like a ninja in the precise input field where it belonged. I didn’t expect to see them all in plaintext. And I wasn’t the only one who was shocked. ”. In a further discussion, Justin Schuh, Chrome’s chief of security, in a rather arrogant manner. Sir Tim Berners-Lee took Kember’s side, calling Chrome’s password manager “ .” Elliott Kember called Chrome’s password security “insane just shrugged it off a way to get your big sister’s passwords After this experience, I never got myself to trust any password manager, even though I knew it was better than confabulating weird passwords in my stupid human head. But, as we say in Brazil, a dog who’s been bitten by a snake fears even sausages. It doesn’t make more sense in Portuguese. A better password manager I spent the next ten years wandering in the desert of password insecurity. I was longing for a better password manager, but all of them seemed to follow the same principle: bundle up all your passwords in a “vault,” encrypt it with your master key and upload this vault to their cloud servers. I could never trust this model. Are they implementing end-to-end encryption, right? Is there a “key recovery” backdoor waiting to be exploited? Or maybe Justin Schuh was right after all: your passwords are “trivially recovered” from any application that stores them, and attempts to make passwords harder to leak are “all just theater.” In this sense, trying to safeguard your passwords any further than trusting a password manager was a novice fool’s errand. In 2019, I landed in the IT Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil. There, I shadowed the CTO and . I learned a great deal from him and took over after he left. Cybersecurity was always on the agenda since that Ministry produced about 80% of all classified information in the Brazilian Federal government, and its operations were spread over 240 locations in all habitable continents. We were constantly targeted by the world’s scariest acronyms, so we needed to keep our guard up at all times. Over those years, through constant exposure to problems in different domains of cybersecurity, I started to put together principles for a better password manager. tech guru Fabio Cereda Principle #0: all cryptography is broken or eventually will get broken There was a museum of diplomatic communications where I worked. It was full of code books, cast-iron cipher machines, suitcase-portable dish antennas, TELEX adapters, and a few specimens of . It was a showcase of one and a half-century of secret communications between the headquarters and Brazilian embassies and diplomatic missions abroad. All of them relied on some sort of crypto to hold the secrets. All of that crypto is now broken. the infamous Crypto AG C-52 machine If you think about a password manager, the fact that all crypto will eventually get broken isn’t scary. Let’s say it takes, on average, 15 years to break a cryptographic protocol. Just change your passwords every couple of years, and you’ll be fine. A decent password manager should upgrade its crypto every now and then so you’ll always stay ahead of the curve. The scary part is that it’s impossible to know if a protocol has been broken already. Or worse, if it was designed with an intentional, hidden vulnerability, as was the case with the Crypto AG machine. Intelligence agencies and cybercriminal organizations keep their zero-days under the radar for as long as they can. The more I saw last-gen, corporate-grade security systems leaking secret information, sometimes in catastrophically spectacular manners, the less I trusted the vault model employed by all cloud-based password managers. Until very recently, these concerns were merely theoretical. As , fellow hackernooner @hossam26644 wrote There is nothing wrong with using Google’s password manager, Microsoft, Apple, 1password, Bitwarden, or whatever. People have been using them for long, with zero problems till now. He was right on July 25th, 2022. He didn’t trust any of them, though, and he was right again. One year later, there was compelling evidence that and people losing money. Over 150 people, over $35 million in money. the notorious LastPass leaks were resulting in some high-value vaults getting cracked A common misconception is that for an encrypted vault to be cracked, the itself would need to be compromised. LastPass has reminded us how much easier it is to break encryption. AES stands strong, but LastPass made poor implementation decisions: too short master key requirements, too few iterations, and some users were left with vaults that were easily crackable by brute force. AES algorithm Principle #1: logistics are often the weakest security link Government cryptanalysts knew Principle #0 all too well. They are some of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, and few of them would put money on something protected by cryptography alone. The most wary of them insisted on the use of a for critically secure communications. In fact, they put this requirement in the regulations for the transmission and storage of top-secret documents. One-Time Pad (OTP) In principle, an OTP cypher cannot be broken. It is a simple XOR operation of the plaintext (the data) and a buffer of random values of the same length as the data (the OTP key). By XOR’ing the cipher against the same key again, the plaintext is recovered. Although unbreakable from a cryptanalysis standpoint, the OTP has several inconveniences: Each OTP key can never be reused; An OTP key must be at least as long as the plaintext; The key is symmetrical and must be pre-shared between the sending and the receiving parties. For a worldwide organization, supplying every office with OTP keys is a large ongoing logistical operation. Even worse, it’s the Achilles’ heel of the whole security model! Because, for all of OTP’s crypto-awesomeness to hold true, you need logistics, both in-transit and at-rest. perfect Should Eve intercept your OTP keys while on the road to the destination? All your communications from that point on are compromised. Should Eve physically crack your safe room and steal your OTP key media? All your comms from that point on are compromised, and maybe even your previous ones, if used portions of the key had not been properly erased from the media. If you implement OTP keys as 1 GB chunks of random bytes that get consumed as you send information, it clearly lacks both and backward secrecy. forward In the end, the perfect crypto is a way to shift responsibility from the cybersecurity team to the physical security team. And a similar problem affects offline password managers: they trade-off availability for confidentiality, leaving you with a logistical mess to sort out. As anyone running a local copy of knows, you need to backup your vault. This backup had better be external in case your computer storage dies. You need to keep your backup up-to-date. And make sure nobody has access to it. And don’t keep them all in your house, lest they fall prey to flood and fire. And don’t upload them to Google Drive; otherwise, you’re not using an offline password manager anymore. And… KeePass Principle #2: when a user device is compromised, it’s game over One day, my boss called me. She wanted to share a PDF with ten people from the upper echelon. This information should remain in their eyes only for three days. She knew that they had incentives to share this document with their respective teams to get a head start. This sort of information should be presented in person, but covid. So, she asked me to make this PDF impossible to copy and share. — Can’t be done, I replied. My boss was an Ambassador. This is the diplomatic equivalent of a General. Ambassadors aren’t used to hearing “no” as an answer. I patiently explained that, in computer science, when you give someone read permission to a resource, you implicitly give them permission to copy and distribute. Information access rights don’t obey legal rights. Even if we somehow made it inconvenient to share the file, they could just take pictures of their screens with their phones and share them over WhatsApp. If they can see the document on the screen, so can their cameras. Justin Schuh was right. If someone gains full access to your computer (or phone), they have full access to the information that you, the user, can access through that device. He’s right, but that doesn’t excuse him for implementing such a lousy password manager on Chrome. For a password manager, it means that protecting the user's device is always critical. If the server leaks, the attackers still need to go through the challenge of cracking the vaults. But if a hacker gains complete ownership over the computer running the password manager client, there’s nothing stopping them from stealing all passwords. This happens quite often in the crypto community. User Alice has a few dozen BTC, which makes her a millionaire. She has been doxxed or never hid her identity in the first place. She keeps a copy of her seed phrase in a local password manager on her desktop. “This is not a cloud password manager; I’m safe from leaks,” she thinks. Hackers find a way to make her install a backdoor to her computer. If they’re really good, they can do this without user interaction. The next morning, she wakes up to an empty wallet. For all the doom and gloom about user device compromise, there’s a silver lining: protecting our own devices, as users, is something that’s within our control. A server leak is not. The 150+ people who lost millions to the LastPass server leak bore no responsibility for the leaks or for LastPass implementing inadequate encryption standards. If user device compromise is a catastrophic attack vector no matter the password manager security model, and if we, as users, must protect our devices anyway, wouldn’t it be nice if this were attack vector? If we could build an password manager where no secrets ever leave the user devices so that users don’t need to worry about things out of their control, like server security and AES implementation details? the only online The ingredients are on the table Fellow author @hossam26644 continued, : “maybe I am a security freak, but I don’t want to trust my passwords to an entity, regardless of their promises &/reputation”. He’s right again. Cybersecurity is supposed to be proven and auditable, not based on trust and reputation. on his article The three principles outlined above guided my development of . It took me three years of ideation and iterations to arrive at its current form: an auditable cloud-based password manager that achieves zero knowledge by design and not through encryption. Passwords are synced across user devices using the cloud, but no secrets ever leave these devices. Cloud server compromises cannot leak any secrets because secrets never reach the cloud. Neulock Password Manager The three years of the making of Neulock will be documented in Part II.

Chrome Password Manager Betrayed My Trust 13 Years Ago. I Never Forgot

13 বছর আগে Chrome পাসওয়ার্ড ম্যানেজার আমার বিশ্বাসের সাথে বিশ্বাসঘাতকতা করেছে। আমি কখনই ভুলিনি।

Der Chrome Password Manager hat mein Vertrauen vor 13 Jahren missbraucht. Ich habe es nie vergessen.

Chrome Password Manager traicionó mi confianza hace 13 años. Nunca olvidé.

Le gestionnaire de mots de passe Chrome a trahi ma confiance il y a 13 ans. Je n'ai jamais oublié.

क्रोम पासवर्ड मैनेजर ने 13 साल पहले मेरे भरोसे को धोखा दिया। मैं कभी नहीं भूला.

Chrome パスワード マネージャーは 13 年前に私の信頼を裏切りました。私は決して忘れませんでした。

Chrome 비밀번호 관리자가 13년 전에 내 신뢰를 배신했습니다. 나는 결코 잊지 않았다.

O gerenciador de senhas do Chrome traiu minha confiança há 13 anos. Eu nunca esqueci.

Менеджер паролей Chrome предал мое доверие 13 лет назад. Я никогда не забывал.

Chrome Şifre Yöneticisi 13 Yıl Önce Güvenime İhanet Etti. Hiç unutmadım.

Trình quản lý mật khẩu Chrome đã phản bội lòng tin của tôi 13 năm trước Tôi không bao giờ quên.

Chrome 密码管理器 13 年前背叛了我的信任。我从未忘记。

In the fast-paced world of digital workflows, having the right tools at your fingertips can make all the difference. I've been asked what extensions I use while browsing, so I decided to compile a list of some of my favorites that contribute the most to in my workflow. productivity Whether you're a developer, designer, or an avid multitasker, these extensions might improve your experience. I've included direct links, descriptions, and visuals so that you can get an initial impression of each extension right away. Hopefully, these will be useful to you! 1. (Sponsored) Hitab Hitab is a versatile browser extension designed to enhance your new tab experience. It transforms your browser's new tab page into a powerful productivity hub, offering features that go beyond traditional tab management. Here's a closer look at what Hitab is and its key functionalities: Hitab provides a customizable dashboard on your new tab page, allowing you to organize and access your most frequently visited websites, bookmarks, and widgets effortlessly. Personalized Dashboard: Seamlessly integrate task management into your browsing experience with Hitab. Create to-do lists, set priorities, and stay organized directly from your new tab. Task Management: Easily navigate through your bookmarks with a visually appealing layout. Hitab ensures quick access to your favorite websites and resources with just a click. Quick Access to Bookmarks: Boost your productivity by jotting down quick notes and setting reminders directly within your new tab. Hitab acts as a digital scratchpad to capture your thoughts on the fly. Notes and Reminders: Hitab includes a convenient search bar, allowing you to perform quick searches directly from your new tab. Additionally, stay updated on the weather with an integrated widget for real-time information. Search Bar and Weather Widget: Hitab is available as an extension in , , and a . Chrome Edge Web App 2. OctoTree OctoTree is a GitHub browser extension that provides a tree view of a GitHub repository's code. It simplifies code navigation, making it easier to explore and understand large codebases on GitHub. 3. ColorZilla ColorZilla is a color picker extension that allows users to identify and copy colors from any webpage. It includes an eyedropper tool for precise color selection and a color history feature. 4. WhatFont WhatFont helps identify fonts used on web pages. By simply hovering over text, it provides information about the font type, size, line height, and color, aiding designers and developers in font selection. 5. JSON Formatter JSON Formatter is a tool that beautifies and formats JSON data for better readability. It organizes JSON objects in a tree-like structure, making it easier for developers to analyze and debug JSON content. 6. Window Resizer Window Resizer is an extension that allows users to resize their browser window to predefined dimensions. It aids developers and designers in testing responsive designs for various screen sizes. 7. GoFullPage GoFullPage is a screenshot tool that captures entire web pages, even those that require scrolling. It's useful for documenting web content and sharing full-page views with others. 8. TextBlaze TextBlaze is a productivity extension that allows users to create and use text templates, snippets, and shortcuts for faster typing and communication. It's particularly handy for repetitive tasks. 9. Mobile Simulator Mobile Simulator is a responsive design testing tool that emulates various mobile device screens, helping developers ensure their websites look and function well on different devices. 10. AgreeTo AgreeTo is an extension designed for scheduling purposes. It simplifies the process of finding suitable meeting times by showing the availability of participants. 11. Dark Reader Dark Reader is a browser extension that enables dark mode on websites, reducing eye strain in low-light environments. It provides a customizable dark theme for an improved browsing experience. 12. Session Buddy Session Buddy is a session manager that allows users to save, restore, and organize browser sessions. It's beneficial for those who work with multiple open tabs and want to manage their browsing sessions efficiently. 13. Screely Screely is an instant browser mockup tool. It captures screenshots and adds device frames and background effects to create visually appealing mockups of web designs or applications. 14. Loom Loom is a screen recorder extension that allows users to create and share video recordings of their screens. It's often used for tutorials, demos, or collaborative work. 15. CheckerPlus CheckerPlus for Gmail is an extension that enhances Gmail management. It provides desktop notifications, quick email access, and additional features to streamline Gmail usage. 16. Bitwarden Bitwarden is a free password manager that helps users securely store and manage their passwords. It offers features like password generation and syncing across devices for improved password security. 17. Grammarly Grammarly for Chrome is a writing assistance tool that checks spelling, grammar, and punctuation as users type. It helps improve the quality of written content and communication. Writing has always been my passion, and it gives me pleasure to help and inspire people. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Make sure to receive the best resources, tools, productivity tips, and career growth tips I discover by subscribing to ! my newsletter Also, connect with me on , , and ! Twitter LinkedIn GitHub Also published . here

Boost Your Productivity in 2024 With These 17 Chrome Extensions 🔥🚀

Let's learn about via these 54 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Password Protection /Learn Repo 1. The Importance of Proper Password Security in 2022 A look at the importance of proper password security in 2022 2. 8 Cybersecurity Tips Small Businesses Should Know Cyberattacks do not discriminate between industries, and no matter how big or tiny your organization is, it is vulnerable to them. 3. Personal Online Security: How to Stay Safe Online Every individual or organization must be mindful of securing their online data. Online security is essential for better online data privacy and security. 4. Manage Your Emails Like You Manage Your Passwords Add an extra security layer for the protection of your emails. 5. 5 Promising Use Cases for Verifiable Credentials Verifiable credentials, which provide a system for provable electronic facts and documentation through cryptography and public keys, can seem like an abstract concept. We’re so used to seeing our credentials printed out – the driver’s license, the passport, the insurance card – that sticking codified IDs on a thumb drive or online seems odd and unnecessary. And as anyone who has used a cryptocurrency wallet can attest, the early forms of such decentralized IDs are hardly user friendly. 6. How to Be Careful When Sharing WiFi Password With QR Code Share your QR code of your network carefully, mistakes can lead to disaster 7. Build your own User-friendly Cross-platform Password Manager I use a local password manager on my computer:  I just stick with a password, which is the only password I memorize. 8. Mechanism of Password Protection While there are security risks associated with the use of password protection, it is very important to know that there have been cases of stolen passwords. 9. Common Attack Vectors that Authentication Services are Faced With Hacking user accounts on many websites is still easier than it could and should be. This blog post helps you secure your application against identity theft. 10. Why You Should Never Store Passwords in Web Browsers 11. How Much Has Your Password Grown Up With You? If you are growing up with technology, your password should be grown up too. 12. Not All Password Managers Are Created Equal: Which is the Best? Web-based password managers have emerged as a response to the proliferation of web applications. 13. Glossary of Security Terms: Public-key Cryptography Public-key cryptography — or asymmetric cryptography — is a cryptographic system in which keys come in pairs. The transformation performed by one of the keys can only be undone with the other key. One key (the private key) is kept secret while the other is made public. 14. Why Your Business Should Use Enterprise Password Management in 2021 When choosing a password for a complete business structure, it must have higher security. That's where enterprise password management can help. 15. Passwords Suck: Here Are 4 Ways We Can Fix Them Passwords are a critical part of cybersecurity that individuals and businesses use every day. 16. Passwords Are a Weak Security Link and Stolen Credentials Is Big Business Stolen credentials are big business thanks to poor password management from users and even nefarious actors on the Dark Web creating demand for stolen passwords 17. Password Managers Should be A Mandatory Part of Everyone’s Digital Life Everyone knows it’s a good idea to use strong, unique passwords, and as employees around the world have been forced to work remotely, logging in from multiple devices and multiple locations, the need for strong password security has only grown. But last year’s Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) revealed that weak or compromised credentials still cause 80% of hacking-related breaches. Throughout the current pandemic, attackers have been scouring remote workforce applications to gather and sell user credentials on the dark web, even targeting healthcare organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization. 18. Do Passwordless Technologies Have an Impact on Cybersecurity? Contrary to popular belief, traditional passwords are not the best way to protect sensitive information on our digital devices. 19. Glossary of Security Terms: CORS CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) is a system, consisting of transmitting HTTP headers, that determines whether browsers block frontend JavaScript code from accessing responses for cross-origin requests. 20. The Most Essential Password Manager Features For 2022 Why We Added A Security Dashboard (And More) To our password manager 21. Using a Password Manager: My Review of Bitwarden How using an open-source password manager helped keep all my login and password information safe in one place while freeing up my memory and reducing anxiety. 22. Glossary of Security Terms: Cryptographic Hash Function A cryptographic hash function, also sometimes called a digest function, is a cryptographic primitive transforming a message of arbitrary size into a message of fixed size, called a digest. Cryptographic hash functions are used for authentication, digital signatures, and message authentication codes. 23. Protecting Your Data Online Using Strong Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication: A Guide There's a growing need for better online security, with strong passwords and two-factor authentication. As more of our daily life moves online, more of our personal information is also being stored on the web, along with access details for our personal bank accounts and confidential work data. With cyberattacks on the rise, all of this information needs to be protected from unauthorized access by hackers. 24. Glossary of Security Terms: Transport Layer Security Transport Layer Security (TLS), formerly known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), is a protocol used by applications to communicate securely across a network, preventing tampering with and eavesdropping on email, web browsing, messaging, and other protocols. Both SSL and TLS are client / server protocols that ensure communication privacy by using cryptographic protocols to provide security over a network. When a server and client communicate using TLS, it ensures that no third party can eavesdrop or tamper with any message. 25. Glossary of Security Terms: Challenge-Response Authentication In security protocols, a challenge is some data sent to the client by the server in order to generate a different response each time. Challenge-response protocols are one way to fight against replay attacks where an attacker listens to the previous messages and resends them at a later time to get the same credentials as the original message. 26. Glossary of Security Terms: Reporting Directive CSP reporting directives are used in a Content-Security-Policy header and control the reporting process of CSP violations. 27. Glossary of Security Terms: OWASP OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) is a non-profit organization and worldwide network that works for security in Free Software, especially on the Web. 28. Glossary of Security Terms: Cipher Suite A cipher suite is a combination of a key exchange algorithm, authentication method, bulk encryption cipher, and message authentication code. 29. How To Overcome All Challenges And Create A Great Password Manager App Creating a new product is never easy. From the moment you come up with a new idea to the moment you actually launch it, months--if not years--can pass. And after your product launches, you need to make sure that you never stop improving it, so you don’t fall behind your competition.  KeepSolid has already brought several products to market, and each of them has had its own successes and challenges. Here’s the story of our journey to launch our latest product, Passwarden. 30. Glossary of Security Terms: TOFU Trust On First Use (TOFU) is a security model in which a client needs to create a trust relationship with an unknown server. To do that, clients will look for identifiers (for example public keys) stored locally. If an identifier
is found, the client can establish the connection. If no identifier is found, the client can prompt the user to determine if the client should trust the identifier. 31. MFA Vs. 2FA: Which Is Better And More Secure Your 8-character password with numbers, symbols, lowercase, uppercase, and special letters are not enough to shoo away hackers! What to do then? Find out here. 32. The Gist of NIST: Password Recommendations to Remember NIST Guidelines have changed over the years so it is important to keep up with the changes. Password recommendations, such as eliminating special character use. 33. Glossary of Security Terms: Symmetric-Key Cryptography Symmetric-key cryptography is a term used for cryptographic algorithms that use the same key for encryption and for decryption. The key is usually called a "symmetric key" or a "secret key". 34. Glossary of Security Terms: Cipher In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm that can encode cleartext to make it unreadable, and to decode it back. 35. Glossary of Security Terms: Block Cipher Mode of Operation A block cipher mode of operation, usually just called a "mode" in context, specifies how a block cipher should be used to encrypt or decrypt messages that are longer than the block size. 36. Glossary of Security Terms: CORS-Safelisted Request Header A CORS-safelisted request header is one of the following HTTP headers: 37. Three Pillars of Online Defense: How to Stay Safe (and Productive) Online The article examines three crucial (and simple) ways to protect yourself online, and how to choose an effective service for the job. 38. Glossary of Security Terms: Robots.txt Robots.txt is a file which is usually placed in the root of any website. It decides whether crawlers are permitted or forbidden access to the web site. 39. Glossary of Security Terms: Cryptanalysis Cryptanalysis is the branch of cryptography that studies how to break codes and cryptosystems. Cryptanalysis creates techniques to break ciphers, in particular by methods more efficient than a brute-force search. In addition to traditional methods like frequency analysis and index of coincidence, cryptanalysis includes more recent methods, like linear cryptanalysis or differential cryptanalysis, that can break more advanced ciphers. 40. Glossary of Security Terms: Cross-Site Scripting Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a security exploit which allows an attacker to inject into a website malicious client-side code. This code is executed by the victims and lets the attackers bypass access controls and impersonate users. According to the Open Web Application Security Project, XSS was the seventh most common Web app vulnerability in 2017. 41. Glossary of Security Terms: Cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology, is the science that studies how to encode and transmit messages securely. Cryptography designs and studies algorithms used to encode and decode messages in an insecure environment, and their applications. 42. Glossary of Security Terms: Same-Origin Policy The same-origin policy is a critical security mechanism that restricts how a document or script loaded from one origin can interact with a resource from another origin. It helps isolate potentially malicious documents, reducing possible attack vectors. 43. Glossary of Security Terms: SQL Injection SQL injection takes advantage of Web apps that fail to validate user input. Hackers can maliciously pass SQL commands through the Web app for execution by a backend database. 44. Getting Into The Mind Of The Hacker: Here's How Hackers Steal Your Keys, Secrets, and Passwords In this post, I’m going to share concepts, methods, and tools used by researchers both for finding secrets and exploiting them. I’ll also list mitigation ideas. 45. No Password is Better than A Strong Password Passwords have been on the decline for more than a decade. But eventually, we will face a time when it is no longer proof of our digital self. 46. Safeguarding Your Passwords from Cracking: Understanding the Math Concepts Passwords that seem safe to us are vulnerable to math-based hacking. This is why using concepts like Password Space may be able to make more secure passwords. 47. How Password Managers Can Protect You From Phishing Password managers are a convenient way to use strong, unique passwords everywhere. Another good thing about password managers is that they help protect you from malicious websites that attempt to "phish" passwords. 48. Glossary of Security Terms: Preflight Request A CORS preflight request is a CORS request that checks to see if the CORS protocol is understood and a server is aware using specific methods and headers. 49. Glossary of Security Terms: Ciphertext In cryptography, a ciphertext is a scrambled message that conveys information but is not legible unless decrypted with the right cipher and the right secret (usually a key), reproducing the original cleartext. A ciphertext's security, and therefore the secrecy of the contained information, depends on using a secure cipher and keeping the key secret. 50. Glossary of Security Terms: CORS-Safelisted Response Header A CORS-safelisted response header is an HTTP header which has been safelisted so that it will not be filtered when responses are processed by CORS, since they're considered safe (as the headers listed in Access-Control-Expose-Headers). By default, the safelist includes the following response headers: 51. Glossary of Security Terms: Certificate Authority A certificate authority (CA) is an organization that signs digital certificates and their associated public keys. This certifies that an organization that requested a digital certificate (e.g., Mozilla Corporation) is authorized to request a certificate for the subject named in the certificate (e.g., mozilla.org). 52. Glossary of Security Terms: Session Hijacking Session hijacking occurs when an attacker takes over a valid session between two computers. The attacker steals a valid session ID in order to break into the system and snoop data. 53. How Password Issues Plague Help Desk Calls A article on passwords, password security, and how businesses can train employees to handle passwords themselves. 54. What Ali Baba Should Have Taught His Brother Before Entering The Secret Cave Password rules are always the first thing in my awareness training for customers. Let me share it with all of you so that more people know about this. Thank you for checking out the 54 most read stories about Password Protection on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

54 Stories To Learn About Password Protection

351 Stories To Learn About Data Security

In today's fast-paced world, there's a vast array of productivity tools at our disposal, designed to simplify our lives and enhance our efficiency. However, with so many tools available, it's easy to get lost in the sea of options, leading to decision fatigue and inefficiency. In this article, I've handpicked a list of 17 tools to address specific productivity challenges you may face from screen recording, keyboard shortcuts, and clipboard management to working with Regex, terminals, DB entries, APIs, and more. I've included direct links, descriptions, and visuals so that you can get an initial impression of each tool right away. 1. FocuSee (Sponsored) is a screen recording tool that automatically zooms in on the video, tracks cursor movement, and adds a nice background, without the need for manual editing. FocuSee 5 most useful features of FocuSee: FocuSee automatically zooms in on the most important part of the screen, making it easy for viewers to follow along. Automatic zoom: FocuSee tracks the movement of your cursor and keeps it in focus, even if you're moving it quickly or erratically. Cursor movement tracking: FocuSee adds a nice, blurred background to your videos, making you look more professional and polished. Nice background: FocuSee automatically polishes your videos for you, so you can spend less time editing and more time creating. No manual editing required: FocuSee is very easy to use, even for beginners. Simply click the record button and start recording your screen. FocuSee will do the rest. Easy to use: 2. Keypirinha A powerful keyboard launcher that allows you to quickly access applications and files by typing. It's highly customizable and can boost your productivity. 3. Ditto A clipboard manager that extends your clipboard's functionality, making it easier to manage and reuse copied items. It saves time and enhances your workflow. 4. Fancy Zones A Windows Management tool by Microsoft that helps you organize and manage open windows on your desktop for improved multitasking. 5. Typora A markdown editor that offers a distraction-free writing experience and real-time preview. It simplifies the process of creating markdown documents. 6. Ray.so A tool for creating beautiful code snippets in no time with instant sharing capabilities. It makes sharing code snippets a breeze. 7. GradientHunt A curated collection that allows you to easily access and use beautiful gradients, enhancing your design and development projects. 8. Hyper A cross-platform terminal built on Electron. It is highly customizable and extensible, with a wide range of themes and plugins available. .png) 9. Sourcetrail A code visualization tool that aids in codebase exploration, making it easier to understand complex projects. 10. RegExr An online tool for regular expressions, helping developers create, test, and debug regular expressions. 11. Beekeeper A SQL editor with a clean interface, making database management and SQL query writing more efficient. 12. Lucidchart A wireframing tool for UI/UX design. It simplifies the creation of diagrams and prototypes. 13. MindMup An online mind-mapping tool that aids in brainstorming and planning, helping you organize your thoughts and ideas. 14. Swagger A tool for API documentation, making it easy to create and maintain documentation for your APIs. 15. Insomnia An API testing tool that streamlines the testing of REST and GraphQL APIs. It simplifies the debugging process. 16. f.lux A screen light adjuster that reduces blue light from your screen, helping reduce eye strain and improve sleep quality. 17. Bitwarden A password manager that securely stores your passwords and makes it easy to manage login credentials. It enhances security and convenience. Writing has always been my passion and it gives me pleasure to help and inspire people. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Connect me on , , and ! Twitter LinkedIn GitHub Visit my for more articles like this. Blog Also published . here

The 17 Essential Tools You Need to Boost Your Productivity 🚀🔥

In today's digital age, we rely on passwords to secure our online accounts more than ever. Whether for social media, banking, or work-related platforms, we must keep our login credentials safe from malicious actors looking to steal our information. But with the increasing frequency of data breaches and cyberattacks, how can you ensure your passwords are secure? The answer lies in password managers - a tool that helps you generate strong and unique passwords and keeps them safe from hackers. In this blog post, we'll discuss why password managers are essential today and how they can help keep your accounts secure against threats lurking on the internet. What is a Password Manager? A password manager software application helps users store and organize their passwords. A password manager typically stores your passwords in an encrypted format so only you can access them. Many password managers also include additional features, such as the ability to generate strong passwords and to automatically fill in your username and password when you visit a website. Using a password manager can help you keep your accounts safe from hackers. Using strong, unique passwords for your online accounts makes it much harder for hackers to access them. Additionally, by using a password manager, you can avoid reusing passwords across multiple accounts. This makes it even harder for hackers to access your accounts, even if they can obtain one of your passwords. Benefits of Using a Password Manager There are many benefits of using a password manager. The most obvious benefit is that it can help keep your accounts safe from hackers. Keeping all your passwords in one place can make it much more difficult for hackers to access your accounts. In addition, password managers often include features such as and encrypted storage, which can further protect your account information. two-factor authentication Another benefit of using a password manager is that it can help you to stay organized. If you have many online accounts, keeping track of all your . A password manager can help you keep track of all your passwords in one place, making it easier to log in to your accounts. passwords can be challenging Using a password manager can help improve your security posture overall. Also, you can ensure that all your passwords are strong and unique. This can help reduce the risk of being hacked, as well as the risk of losing access to your accounts if one of your passwords is compromised. Types of Password Managers There are many different types of password managers that you can use to keep your accounts safe. The most popular type is the LastPass Password Manager, a free program that stores all your passwords in an encrypted database. This type of password manager effectively keeps your passwords safe, using a robust encryption algorithm to protect your data. Another popular type of password manager is 1Password, a paid program that offers several features not found in LastPass. 1Password can generate strong passwords and store other sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and bank account login details. It also has a handy feature called the Security Challenge, which tests how strong your current passwords are and gives you suggestions on how to improve them. If you're looking for something more basic, there are also a number of free password managers, such as KeePass and Password Safe. These programs don't have all the bells and whistles of LastPass or 1Password, but they're still very effective at keeping your passwords safe. How to Choose the Right Password Manager for You When it comes to choosing a password manager, there are a few things you should take into account. First and foremost, you need to consider what devices you'll be using the password manager on. If you only need it for your personal computer, you can choose a less expensive option like LastPass or Dashlane. However, if you need to use your password manager on multiple devices, including your smartphone or tablet, you'll want to choose an option that offers cross-platform compatibility. Another vital factor to consider is how many passwords you need to manage. If you only have a handful of passwords to keep track of, then any of the above options will work fine. However, if you have dozens or even hundreds of passwords to keep track of, then you'll want to choose a password manager with robust organization features, such as Enpass or Bitwarden. It would be best to consider whether you want to pay for your password manager. Some great free options are available, such as LastPass and Bitwarden, but they have some limitations compared to paid options. Paid password managers typically offer more features and better security, so if the price isn't an issue, then it's worth considering one of these options. Alternatives to Password Managers If you're not ready to use a password manager, you can take other steps to improve your password security. One is to use a passphrase instead of a password. A passphrase is a series of words strung together, and they can be much easier to remember than a gibberish password. For example, the phrase "I always forget my passwords!" could become "IAFMpwd!". Another option is to use two-factor authentication whenever possible. This adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to enter a password and a code sent to your phone or email. Make sure you're using different passwords for different accounts. If one account gets hacked, the rest will remain safe. Final Words Password managers are an indispensable tool for online security. Not only do they help to protect your accounts by creating strong, unique passwords, but they also store them safely so you don't have to remember them all yourself. Using a trusted password manager like LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane, you can rest assured that your accounts and private information will remain secure from hackers. So if security is important to you, use a reliable password manager today!

Keeping Hackers at Bay with Password Managers  

Mantener a raya a los piratas informáticos con administradores de contraseñas

Garder les pirates à distance grâce aux gestionnaires de mots de passe

पासवर्ड प्रबंधकों के साथ हैकर्स को दूर रखना

パスワードマネージャーでハッカーを寄せ付けない

Mantendo os hackers afastados com gerenciadores de senhas

Ngăn chặn tin tặc bằng Trình quản lý mật khẩu

使用密码管理器阻止黑客入侵

Let's explore vital security aspects that all startup founders should know. These insights will help you understand what you should expect from your security team. Even if you're not a technical founder, you still need a basic understanding of security. In the end, you are accountable for any leaks or security breaches. 1. Embrace OWASP as a Security Guide You might have heard about OWASP and its mission to educate about security practices. Unfortunately, hearing is not enough. . It unmasks the . You should be familiar with their popular document titled OWASP Top 10 ten most popular vulnerabilities to be discovered in web apps When hiring developers or a software development company, . By adhering to OWASP guidelines, developers can mitigate common vulnerabilities, such as injection attacks, broken authentication, and data exposure, among others. ensure they are not only familiar with OWASP but also actively follow its recommendations 2. Include OWASP Security Standards in Contracts With Software Providers Better have it on paper! . That’s a great way to ensure, at the very beginning, that your software team will prioritize security. Include in your contract with the development team a requirement to follow security standards levels listed in OWASP OWASP standards to follow: (Applications Security Verification Standards) and (Mobile Application Security Verification Standard). OWASP ASVS OWASP MASVS If all these documents feel too overwhelming for you, you can start with a more minimalistic guide made by contributors like Google and Salesforce – . Minimum Viable Secure Product 3. Make it a Requirement for Developers to Utilize Security Automation Tools While code reviews are crucial, integrating security automation tools into your development process is highly recommended. Encourage your development team to utilize automated . These tools can help identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your codebase. Security automation ensures continuous assessment and reduces the risk of human error. security testing tools Automated security testing tools worth exploring: . Snyk, SonarQube, Dependabot 4. Require Secrets and Password Management Ensure your development team follows secure practices, such as utilizing tools like for securely sharing secrets and password managers like for storing and sharing access credentials. GPG Suite/VeraCrypt Bitwarden/LastPass Additionally, encrypting disks, implementing , and enforcing robust password retention policies are essential security measures. It is also advisable to make the use of mandatory to protect communications and data transfer. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) 5. Leverage Cloud Provider Security Tools When it comes to software security, cloud providers offer a range of tools that can simplify and enhance your startup's security measures. For example, popular cloud platforms like A provide tools like , , and . These tools help protect against web exploits, manage encryption keys, and securely store sensitive data and API keys. mazon Web Services (AWS) Web Application Firewall (WAF) Key Management Service (KMS) AWS Secrets Manager There is no need for you to learn how to use these tools. However, . No one should reinvent the wheel. Stick with solutions offered by AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc. you should expect the development team to use tools provided by cloud platforms 6, Require Regular Infrastructure Reconnaissance Scans Even after implementing security best practices, it is crucial to conduct . Tools like can aid in request manipulation and uncover vulnerabilities such as code injections, authentication weaknesses, and data exposure. regular infrastructure reconnaissance scans Burp Suite Additionally, tools like can assist in identifying open ports, software vulnerabilities, and dependencies. Conducting infrastructure reconnaissance scans, including utilizing certificate search engines like , helps identify potential weaknesses and ensures ongoing security. Shodan crt.sh 7. Comply with Applicable Laws and Regulations Adhering to security regulations and legal requirements is critical for startups. Familiarize yourself with relevant data protection laws, such as the . Failure to comply with such regulations can result in substantial fines and damage to your company's reputation. European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Furthermore, pay attention to software licenses. Ensure they are not overly restrictive, as violating licensing terms can have legal implications. Do you want to know even more about software security? Download our and get access to the best security practices, standards, and tools. free cybersecurity ebook

7 Things Every Startup Founder Should Know About Software Security

119 Stories To Learn About Apps

We didn’t build the World Wide Web on fundamentally secure technology. As a result, with each passing year, the internet becomes an incrementally more hostile place to do business – especially small business. Here’s how to protect yourself on a budget. 1. Study Existing Resources As many as focus on small businesses. half of all reported cyberattacks This is why watchdog groups and regulators in more developed countries continually publish guidance and recommendations for modestly sized businesses on a tighter budget. For businesses looking to secure their attack surfaces inexpensively, it’s critical to know what kinds of free resources are available. An obvious place to start is the from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST Framework Large, small, domestic, and foreign businesses can benefit from this framework because it establishes a strong knowledge foundation built on practical details. It acts as a kind of tutorial to guide you through building the foundations of a strong cyber bulwark, including: How to identify threats unique to your industry or business. How to become proactive in thinking about cyber risks. Understanding the abilities and limits of detection tools. How to respond and recover from a cyberattack. Similar resources include those published by the E.U. in support of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These are for organizations, meaning they may be helpful in getting ahead of the regulatory curve in places like the United States. more comprehensive guidelines Both bodies of knowledge are free, but they deliver significant value by helping you expand your knowledge base and harden your defenses without hiring an outside party to do it for you. 2. Invest in Team Member Training As far as investments go, time spent wisely is among the most valuable. Spending time on cybersecurity training for all personnel is essentially free, except for the time expenditure involved, but good training is a ward against some of the most successful cyberattack vectors. Here are some examples of training elements and why they pay off: (Phishing and social-engineering attacks were named a top threat by in a recent poll.) Train team members on spotting phishing attempts 75% of business respondents (Employees misplacing data or leaving it vulnerable to snooping is a preventable source of risk.) Reinforce safe, security-minded data-handling protocols (Research has yielded surprising findings about how many people reuse passwords across multiple accounts . Take the burden off their shoulders by investing in a paid password manager like BitWarden or 1Password.) Ensure all team members practice safe password hygiene even when they know better Unaware and underprepared team members become a liability. Ensure they know the risks and how to be proactive. 3. Understand What Your Operating System Offers No matter what operating system (OS) you favor, there are certain security tools built into their infrastructure – and it’ll cost you nothing but time to learn how they work. Here’s a quick look: Linux offers an open-source approach to security and permissions that some view as superior to Windows or macOS. Organizations running Linux have a dizzying selection of free, . Linux: open-source cybersecurity tools Offers a firewall, software gatekeeper, secure password manager, malware removal tool, and (deliverable automatically in the background) macOS: frequent security updates Offers Windows Defender with , parental controls, system restore points (useful in cyberattack recovery), Memory Integrity to prevent system tampering, and more. Windows: automated virus and threat scans You’ll have the option of letting your OS automatically download critical security updates. You should do this. It’s a free way to take advantage of your OS developer’s ongoing commitment to patching known exploits. Ultimately, your OS might be an underutilized resource if you’re a cash-strapped startup, a world-changing nonprofit, or a small business looking to save money. 4. Develop a Cyber Response Plan A cyber response plan will cost you nothing but time, but it ensures you won’t be caught entirely unprepared if you experience a data breach or cyberattack. Your organization is unique, your attack surface is unique, and your priorities will be unique if you find yourself under attack. Nevertheless, here are some essentials to remember as you document your cyber response plan: Inventory all of the assets currently at risk. Understand the disclosure requirements outlined by local and national cybersecurity and data privacy laws. Create for the most applicable risks. This includes the likelihood of the risk, details of what it could impact, how you’ll be able to tell whether it’s compromised, who gets notified, and what specific actions each identified individual will take. a response matrix Consult with an expert. It’s wiser to have cybersecurity experts on your IT payroll, but you can do the next best thing by reaching out to certified and knowledgeable experts once you’re in the thick of things and you want to be sure you’re doing the right thing. 5. Consider Cyber Liability Insurance Cyber insurance is not free, but depending on the sector you serve, the data you capture or process, the nature of your business, and the level of risk in your industry, paying per year could be the peace of mind you’ve been looking for. thousands of dollars in premiums This isn’t exactly a preventive measure. What it does is ensure your organization or company doesn’t fold under the potentially ruinous cost of sustaining a data breach. For small businesses, the – an unsustainable figure if your assets aren’t liquid enough. average price tag is $200,000 Moreover, the global economy finds itself on uncertain footing. Whispers and open talk of recessions have many businesses economic tribulations. wondering how to survive The cost of a data breach may be too high to manage, but cyber insurance lets you spend your defensive budget manageably, over time, for protection that’s as comprehensive as you want it to be. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission to seek in cyber liability insurance. recommends some essential features Your chosen policy should cover direct data theft, attacks on your data when held by third parties, terrorist attacks, and clear expectations regarding legal representation during data breaches. Protect Your Organization Without Spending a Fortune It’s not clear if cyber insurance will become a legal requirement for businesses in the coming years. However, laws like GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act continuously raise the barrier for entry – and spending, it seems – for business owners. California even passed to ensure businesses adequately protect their internet of things (IoT) products. a first-of-its-kind law Therefore, another free way to develop a stronger cybersecurity posture is to remain aware of which territories are quick to identify emerging risks and issue guidance about them. You should also follow the tech companies whose products you rely on. For example, Microsoft recently disclosed in Exchange servers. two highly destructive exploits Finally, remember that the cost of losing face with investors, partners, and customers if you fall victim to fraud or data theft is far higher than the cost of prevention. Start with this guide to do it cost-effectively.

Developing Effective Cybersecurity on a Tight Budget

As the world gets more focused on privacy rights, companies will begin to offer more and more “at-home” products to offer you “more privacy.” There have been home firewalls that plug into your router, even expensive self-hosting email servers for those who want to try setting up their own email and realize it’s a lot harder than it seems. At the end of the day, most of these (not all), are preying on people’s fears and don’t offer much for privacy. Or at the very least, as I will show you, offer a very expensive product for something that be done for under $50. Enter the Raspberry Pi. The Pi, as I will refer to it from here on out, is a single-board computer around the size of a credit card. It has options such as WiFi, ethernet, USB, and more, allowing the user to set up a very basic home computer that runs a variety of Pi based Linux operating systems (It can run some version of Windows as well, but this is about privacy, so let’s stick with Linux). While the Pi can be used for a personal computer, media center, retro gaming device, and countless other fun projects, I want to focus on a few great at home privacy projects you can use your Pi for. Ad/Content Blocker Most of us use ad and content blockers such as uBlock Origin on our browser, but with a Pi, you can set up an at home blocker for the whole house, no browser plugin needed (though, for redundancy, I do recommend both). There is and both offer free software options that allow the user to set a variety of content blockers up to stop ads, and even blacklist websites (even per-device). Don’t want people having access to YouTube, you can block it. PiHole AdGuard The concept is very simple and just requires that you set up each devide on your network to connect to the Pi and blockers DNS address (which both products can walk you through) and then your traffic is then routed from the router, through the Pi, and then to the device. If done with a wired connection, there is zero loss in speed. When done wirelessly, you might sometimes see a slight drop, but usually it’s not noticeable. Cloud Storage Most of us have cloud storage somewhere. We use iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, or any other variety of cloud storage options, including privacy focused options such as Nextcloud, Owncloud, or Tresorit. But did you know with a Pi you can easily create your own Nextcloud server at home and store all your files there? You want privacy, there’s not much more private than physically having your files stored in your own home. , but Nextcloud is incredibly easy to use and is feature rich for those looking for great cloud-based solutions. It can take a little work VPN Now, I want to start here by saying that if you’re avoiding government surveillance or think you could be in physical harm, setting up your own VPN isn’t always the best idea. But for the average internet user who might want to mask some traffic from ISP or want to make it harder to hackers to access your information in transit. What you should know is that it won’t offer you more benefits that you get from a larger VPN like changing server locations to watch streaming services in other countries or changing your physical location to avoid surveillance. It’s regardless and does offer benefits as long as you’re clear on what it can and cannot do. a fun project Password Manager Password managers such as Bitwarden allow you to so that you’re not relying on their services to store your passwords. self-host your password manager You can easily set up your Pi at home as your password server and connect it to your devices even on the go. Much like cloud storage, this puts the data itself in your hands, not trusting someone else. These are just a few ideas you can use at home for your Pi. I have seen projects where people set up their own security camera so they can avoid using products like Ring. You can even run a few of these on the same device. Depending on your server load, you can easily manage cloud server, ad blocker, and likely even your password manager all at the same time. The Raspberry Pi is a great and fun computer with countless projects you can find yourself running.

4 Privacy Focused Raspberry Pi Projects

How to Stay Safe When Browsing Online or Viewing Emails at Home or Work

All websites are prone to cyber-attacks from hackers attempting to control website resources and users' data. The reason for most attacks is financial gains where hackers either attempt to gain access to people's banking details or make website owners pay for ransomware. This underlying cyber security threat calls for drastic measures to protect websites and their users from unscrupulous web users. One of the most attacked web resources is WordPress. WordPress is an open-source content management system –CMS– suitable for hosting and building websites. It is a free CMS written in PHP combined with MySQL or MariaDB that supports HTTPS. According to HubSpot, WordPress accounts for 43.2% of all websites on the internet. This marks an increase from the over 455 million websites reportedly using WordPress in 2021 at 39.5%. In 2021, Wordfence blocked billions of password attacks and reported hundreds of weaknesses. These attacks and weaknesses don't mean WordPress is becoming less secure; it simply gave an insight into how some users are negligent and not security conscious in their usage. A hacked WordPress website enables hackers to steal users' log-in IDs and passwords and causes significant damage to businesses and their reputations. Aside from human error, WordPress has always been a target for a series of exploits like the attack involving GoDaddy-managed WordPress users, where the attacker was able to remain operational for two months undetected. There are various security measures to safeguard a WordPress site; below are a few tips that could protect your WordPress website: Use Reliable, Safe, and Quality Hosting Most people think their hosting is reliable until proven otherwise; you don't have to wait for a security breach before hosting your websites on reliable hosting companies. Hosting companies do not offer equal services regarding hosting qualities like reliability, speed, security, etc.
Some hosts don't offer much when it comes to security, and this could ease cyber-attacks, resulting in poor performance and perpetual downtime. Since you can't rectify your host to offer quality service, your safest option is to move to a more secure host. Good hosting usually comes at a higher cost with ranges that are pocket-friendly. Restrict all Hotlinking Hotlinking means linking a file hosted on another website instead of downloading and hosting it on your website with proper reference. Images are usually hotlinked, but other digital files like animations, audios, and so on can also be hotlinked. This is done using the file's URL to host the digital file on your website. In such a case, you're displaying the file on your site while it is hosted on another website's server. This scenario could play out on your website too. The problem is that hotlinking digital files from your website steals your server's bandwidth, resulting in sluggish loading speed and possibly expensive server costs. So, to safeguard your WordPress website, consider restricting or preventing all forms of hotlinking. Secure your wp-config.php File Your wp-config.php file stores essential information about your WordPress installation; this is why it is the most critical file in your web's root directory. So, securing it entails safeguarding your WordPress web basis and makes it difficult for hackers to breach your website's security since they can't access the file. To secure this file, you can move it to a more secure higher level than just your root directory, where WordPress will still see it. This is possible with the current WordPress framework, where the configuration file settings top the priority list. Block File Editing Any user with admin access to your WordPress dashboard can edit all files associated with your WordPress installation. But if you block or disallow file editing, including plugins and themes, no one will be able to change or edit any file on your dashboard. Not even a hacker.
To do this, include the following at the end of the wp-config.php file: define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); Carefully configure your directory permissions When using a shared hosting environment, poor directory permissions can be disastrous. To secure your website at the hosting level in such a situation, adjusting your files and directory permissions is a wise approach. The entire file system, including directories, subdirectories, and individual files, is protected by configuring the directory permissions to "755" and the file permissions to "644". This can either be configured via the terminal using the " " command (connected through SSH) or manually using the File Manager in your hosting control panel. chmod Use to disable directory listing.
Suppose you create a new directory on your website without putting the index.html file. In that case, you might be stunned to discover that your visitors can see a complete directory listing everything in the newly created directory. .htaccess To see everything in a directory named "statistics," your visitors can enter the address: into their browser. No password is required for this. This can be forestalled by including the following code in your file: http://www.instance.com/statistics/ .htaccess Options All -Indexes Recognize DDoS attacks and take precautions against them A DDoS –Distributed denial-of-service– attack is a malicious attack used to interrupt the regular traffic of a network resource or machine by making it unavailable to users or intended users. It is usually done by flooding the target with internet traffic. In order to compromise your website, a DDoS attack employs numerous programs and systems to attack your server bandwidth. Although it poses no threat to your website's file but it can crash your website if not taken care of. DDoS attacks are not limited to large companies alone; they threaten the entire web space. Meanwhile, there are web applications that repel such attacks if you can subscribe to their premium plans for maximum security against DDoS. Use 2FA for your WordPress security A 2FA –two-factor authentication– on your log-in page helps protect your website. 2FA allows you to provide your log-in password via two options you can define. Your 2FA might be an average password couple with a secret code or question, set of characters, or the Google authentication app. Use your email address to log in instead of your username Since a WordPress user account is created with an email address, using your email address to log into your WordPress account is more secure than using a username. This is because usernames can be predicted easily by attackers, unlike emails. Rename your Log-in URL to safeguard your website Now that you've switched your log-in username to email to forestall log-in attempts with Guess Work Database–GWDb– you can also change your log-in URL to lessen the susceptibility of brute force attacks. WordPress log-in pages are easily accessed by adding wp-login.php or wp-admin to the site's main URL. This can also make cybercriminals to brute force. Only you or whoever has the correct URL can access your log-in page if you change your URL. You can change your URL with reliable plugins by installing, activating, and configuring your choice of plugins. The iThemes Security Pro and WPS Hide Login are notable, among others. Change your password at random intervals and use a password manager Another way of safeguarding your WordPress website is to change your password at random intervals. As you're doing so, endeavor to improve their strength by adding more words, numbers, or characters to increase the password length. This will increase your password sample space and widen your password entropy by making it harder and taking longer to crack. Changing passwords randomly and remembering the genuine one out of the pool of old or used passwords can be arduous; using reliable password managers will come in handy in this case. Password managers can generate safe passwords for you and also secure them in their vault to save you from the trouble of remembering the correct password. Examples of reliable password managers are RoboForm, 1password, LastPass, Keeper, Bitwarden, NordPass, Dashlane, and so on. Create a lockdown for failed log-in attempts and ban users Persistent brute force attempts can be repelled with a lockdown feature for failed log-in attempts from attackers. So, whenever they attempt to log in with the wrong passwords consistently, they'll be locked out, and you'll be alerted of such activity. iThemes Security offers this feature, allowing you to configure a particular number of failed attempts before the attacker's IP address is banned. Log out idle users from your website automatically A considerable threat to the security of WordPress can come from users who leave the wp-admin page of your website open on their devices. Any passers-by can modify user accounts, alter information on your website, or even crash your website. This can be forestalled by ensuring that your site locks users out after a specified time of being idle. This can be achieved with the Bulletproof Security plugin, which enables you to configure a time limit after which idle users will be promptly logged out. Conclusion Safeguarding your WordPress website shouldn't be underestimated. No proactive measure is too much when keeping your web safe. Aside from the above-highlighted standards, there are other ways you can safeguard your website via your admin dashboard, which attackers always seek after. Examples of such measures include: Safeguard the wp-admin directory with two passwords; one for the log-in page and the other for the WordPress admin section. Use a secure socket layer –SSL– to encrypt your data during data transfer between a user browser and the server. Back up your website regularly. Update your WordPress with the latest version. Scrutinize your audit logs for changes without approval. Use a strong password to secure your database. Change your WordPress database prefix to something unique from the usual . wp-

Tips for Safeguarding Your WordPress Website

Hacking user accounts on many websites is still easier than it could and should be. This blog post helps you secure your application against identity theft by going over the most common hacker attacks against authentication services and outlining mitigations against them. Password guessing One of the easiest ways to steal someone's account is to try all possible passwords until one of them works. This is called a brute-force attack. At first, there seem to be many possible passwords one would need to try here. However, password guessing attacks are more successful than one might assume because many people use similar passwords. Here is a list of the . most common ones If your password is listed here, anybody in the world can hack your account in a few minutes by just trying these passwords manually! More sophisticated hackers use computer scripts to try millions of passwords per second, for example, all words in the dictionary, possible combinations of words and numbers, and the list keeps increasing. You can protect your application against password guessing by making the passwords harder to guess; longer (at least 8 characters) and with a wider variety of symbols. Another effective mitigation is waiting some time after encountering an incorrect password, ideally longer with each successive failed attempt (exponential backoff). This slows automated scripts down to levels where they can never try a large number of passwords. Finally, check your users' passwords against databases of leaked passwords that are known to hackers, for example, . haveibeenpwned Hackers often get access to your database and read all its contents. If you store your users' passwords in clear text there, the hacker will know the passwords of all your users among other important details. Avoid this by keeping only a fingerprint (hash) of passwords in your database. When a user enters a password during login, you create a fingerprint of that password and compare it to the one you have on file. If the fingerprints match, the passwords must match as well. Choose a strong hashing algorithm like . Hackers can reverse-engineer simple fingerprints using . Mix the fingerprints with a random element called to prevent this. bcrypt/Argon2 rainbow tables salt The best passwords are complete random characters. Password managers like or help create and store them. 1password bitwarden Key takeaways: Ensure sufficient entropy in your users' passwords to make them hard to guess. Ensure your users don't use leaked passwords. Use a gradually increasing delay between unsuccessful authentication attempts to avoid password guessing. Use a strong hashing algorithm with salt. Use a password manager to create and manage unique passwords for each service. If all that sounds too complicated, give Ory Kratos a try because it implements all of these best practices out of the box. Data interception attacks Even the best password isn't good enough if an attacker can observe the user entering it. This can happen when bystanders watch your keyboard while you enter your password. It is, therefore, a part of good etiquette to look away when others enter their passwords. Your password can also be seen by others when it is sent over via un-encrypted wireless connections like FTP or unencrypted WiFi. Protect yourself against these attacks by always using encrypted network connections like SSL, SFTP, and HTTPS, instead of FTP and HTTP. Make sure to use modern versions since some older SSL versions are not secure anymore. Key takeaways: Use SSL everywhere and periodically audit the setup. Configure SSL with and . HSTS Certificate Transparency Spyware An encrypted connection doesn't help if the computer through which the user enters the password contains hidden spyware that sends all entered text, the screen content, or your website cookies to the hacker. Hackers can efficiently scan large amounts of captured keystrokes for text that looks like passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other valuable data. Stolen cookies allow an attacker to make requests look like they're coming from you. Secure yourself against malware by installing all software updates, using a modern web browser, avoiding shady websites and software, and running anti-virus software. You can reduce cookie leaks by making the lifetime of cookies short. That's why limits the lifetime of cookies to one hour. Ory Kratos With two-factor authentication, a user enters their username and password to authenticate, and then they are required to provide another aspect to identify themselves. This second aspect could be a time-based one-time password or a code sent via text message to your phone, although the latter is . Two-factor authentication helps against stolen passwords and spyware since the second factor is always different. less secure Takeaways: Bind a cookie to a user's IP address. Use a short cookie lifetime. Always install all software updates. Use anti-virus software. Use a modern web browser. Enable two-factor authentication. Use CSRF tokens on authentication forms to avoid "Connect" request interception. Consider using for passwordless flows in the browser. WebAuthn Social engineering and phishing attacks The weakest link in your security architecture is the human users. The best passwords aren't secure if people are tricked into revealing them to an attacker as part of social engineering. You find many examples of social engineering in the movie . Here is an example that combines social engineering with a : Takedown man-in-the-middle attack George uses Gmail with 2-factor-authentication. Andrew wants to read George's emails but doesn't have the password. To get it, Andrew creates a website that looks exactly like Gmail's login screen, with a URL that sounds very close to it, like . Sophisticated hackers can also use a to make their fake website appear as . To make George use this fake website, Andrew sends him a fake advertisement claiming that George won a free Gmail upgrade and just needs to log in to activate it. When George clicks on the link in the fake ad, he ends up at Andrew's fake login page and enters his Gmail username and password. gmoil.com DNS poison attack gmail.com Andrew sees the credentials and enters them into the real Gmail website. George then enters the code received on his phone into Andrew’s fake website, which Andrew also enters into the real Gmail. Andrew is now logged into George's email. The fake website shows an error message and tells George that there was an error and he should try again, then redirects him to the real Gmail website. George logs in again, and everything works this time. George doesn't think much of it and goes on with his day. Lead image source Also published here.

Common Attack Vectors that Authentication Services are Faced With

You don’t have to trust Google, Microsoft, or the pope to have your passwords “auto-filled” Having one login password for every website you use is not the smartest idea, we all know that. However, having two or three passwords, one for sensitive logins like banking or email accounts, and others for random less trustworthy logins is not the ultimate solution. Since an exposed password will compromise all the logins sharing the same password. The ultimate solution is to have a separate, randomly generated password for every login. If you have the memory to do that, …. For me, I struggle to remember my birthday already 😂 so I have to use a . WOWWW password manager There is nothing wrong with using Google’s password manager, Microsoft, Apple, 1password, Bitwarden, or whatever. People have been using them for long, with zero problems till now. However, maybe I am a security freak, but I don’t want to trust my passwords to an entity, regardless of their promises &/reputation. If you are like me, I will share with you , without relying on an online password manager, and also without sacrificing usability. how I mange my passwords I use a local password manager on my computer: is a way to store your passwords locally, encrypted with a password or a key file. Here I just stick with a password, which is the only password I memorize. keepass is a very old opensource project, that has not seen any development for so long. However, it’s methodology is used in many forks, here I use keepassXC, which just has a more modern UI, and nice auto-complete features. keepass You can validate that you can trust any keepass fork by running them in a sandbox, or monitor their network activity, they should not have any. I save the encrypted passwords file on a cloud storage drive (ex: google drive or Dropbox): Although google now has my file, it’s meaningless for them, since they don’t have the encryption key. The general idea of this way of managing passwords is that no entity is going to have the passwords database file + it’s key. I use a local password manager on my other devices (ex: phone, tablet): Now the phon’s local password manager will use the phone OS files manager app to read the passwords encrypted file. The guarantee that this app does not steal your passwords is that it has to work offline, and only offline. Now what I have is a cross-platform system, that works as good as the local password managers work. Which is nothing less than what any online password manager can be. More details, so that you can have a smooth ride implementing your system: As I mentioned, I use keepassXC. I made it start automatically when I turn on my computer. The below suggestions are based on a Ubuntu20 OS. To download keepassXC for ubunto: or get your right download from sudo snap install keepassxc https://keepassxc.org/download/ It is very useful to make a hotkey to auto-fill passwords, for me it is alt+shift+space. You will find the option to set a hotkey combination in the app’s settings. When you save a password with any keepass manager, provide the url to the login in the dedicated field, so that it gets suggested to be filled when you click the keepass hotkey. Otherwise, you will have to search for the password in the database. 4.  KeepassXC can’t read the url to suggest the right login information in a browser window.  , this can be solved by: Using their browser extension, it connects to the main app. or use an extension to put the url of the website in the tap header, which keepassxc can read. for me, I use the latter since it is more secure. I use a FUSE system to mount my google drive You can find how to mount google drive using Ocamlfuse here https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/04/mount-google-drive-ocamlfuse-linux I added the mount line to the .bashrc so that it gets mounted whenever I login you may want to set in so that when you add a password, the file gets modified, instead of making a new file with the same name. This is to avoid confusing the other keepass managers in other systems (like the phone) mv_keep_target=true ~/.gdfuse/default/config Of course, you have to save your database on the cloud drive (like google drive), I suggest making a separate directory for it. By default, you will have sections for putting organizing your logins, use them they will make life easier later. 8. Lastly, of course, make it suggest a bloody complicated password for every login you are going to add. I use keepassium on my iphone and ipad : https://keepassium.com/ For android, you can find other keepass managers, they are everywhere 😅. The app works completely offline, it uses  apple’s file manager to read the passwords database file from google drive. so it can not leak your passwords. The app free version gives enough, it restricts the auto-fill a bit, but it is OK for me. Once you give it the database, you have to unlock it with the master password of course. 5. It can store the database offline when it can’t reach google drive (very useful when there is no internet connection) 6. Sometimes when you write to the file from other sources, like computer, it gets confused and thinks that the original file is no longer there. No worries just add the file again. 7. I store the master password on my iphone’s keychain, as a precaution if I forget it. it doesn’t compromise safety as it is a password without the encrypted file. Just like having a key without knowing which door it opens. Having a secure system like this does not mean you are 100% safe, passwords can be leaked by fake logins, reading your clipboard (things you copy), key-loggers, ..etc. So don’t put your guard down because you are using a password manager. Finally, you can implement the same concept in any different way. Just remember, don’t give the encrypted database and its password to the same entity.

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