I use a system. I use a general subject the a number then the service name. In this way all my passwords are different yet memorable. So here would be "car44hackernews" and for facebook would be "car44facebook".
Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
81–90 of 92 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#82keepass. I don't trust a service to store my passwords. I use a key file and a passphrase to secure my keepass database. The database is stored on dropbox, the keyfile is stored elsewhere.
I use KeyPass and sync it using BitTorrent sync on all my devices. The problem with my current setup is that I carry the keyfile along with the database which useless. I got to think of another way!
Carry the key file around on a USB drive, perhaps?
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#83keepass. I don't trust a service to store my passwords. I use a key file and a passphrase to secure my keepass database. The database is stored on dropbox, the keyfile is stored elsewhere.
I don't particularly favor putting all my passwords in an online password manager. So I have some JavaFX gui I made that encrypts a password file (passphrase => PKDF => AES). In total it's like 200 lines of code - GUI, storing pass, generating pass, and rotating master password. The encrypted file I keep synced in my cloud storage.
But in retrospect I don't know if this makes any real difference from something like keepass. My encrypted file is transferred over some secure socket, so an attacker can at least a copy of the encrypted file if they either hack the cloud storage provider or somehow hijack my connection.
It's not exactly super portable but for sites I care about, I wouldn't log onto them on untrusted computers anyway.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#84I use the same passwords across almost all my accounts. I realise it's not secure but nearly everything that asks for a password doesn't need to be secured.
The few I use a different password for are gmail, steam, my bank and my work domain. Muscle memory kicks in quite quickly because they're all typed so often, so while I can't actually remember what my password is to say it, I can remember enough to start typing and the muscles take over.
I find when faced with a new password that just saying each character in my head as I type them helps memorize them.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#85I don't like to keep all my passwords in any one place. and some I refuse to put in writing at all.
Basic passwords I keep in lastpass. Important ones are in multiple keepass files - if an account requires two passwords I keep them in seperate files Super important ones I have written down in various places
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#86only in my head: e-banking / main e-mail account / master password for 1password
with 1password: sites like paypal, social stuff, other e-mail accounts, etc.
and for the not really important sites 2 different "trash" passwords (and some combinations of them) only in my head
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#87I use pass: http://www.passwordstore.org/ It's fantastic, free, simple and works across multiple platforms. I also set up a simple web front-end for it, so I can use it from my phone: https://pw.mkn.io/
The biggest downside to this is that the names of your sites are in plain-text.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#88lastpass. although all their apps with the exception of the chrome extension could use more work
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems like that would be pretty annoying for passwords that must be changed periodically (or even just occasionally).
yep, it doesn't allow changing passwords because of its fixed nature. I use it for my personal needs
Easy enough to include a version number as another arg with the identifier, and include that in the hash. Then all you have to do is keep track of what version each of your passwords is on, which is not sensitive information and could be stored in greppable plaintext.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?
#90Spreadsheet in Google Docs, 2FA on Google to keep it safe. Passwords generated with my generator here: https://without.azurewebsites.net/pass.html and kept to 64 chars where the service allows that many. Most get saved in the browser, Remote Desktop Connection Manager, etc. - so I'm not looking them up often.
I like the fact I can get to this from anywhere. Even from IE on my Windows Phone, if I need to copy+paste (e.g. to log into the Spotify app after installing it).