Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#1

Post by pft » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 4:58 PM UTC

A while back someone posted a link to qwertycards.com, a (low security) product that promised an easy way to keep track of all of your passwords whilst staying secure.

This got me thinking about what I should use - after a year of using Lastpass to store "super secure" passwords and then logging in repeatedly to it, i'm starting to get fed up.

What do you all use? Do you spend a lot of time memorising them? Do you use medium security passwords that are easier to remember? Do you use Lastpass/ 1Password/ another service? If so what do you recommend?

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#2

Post by cwt » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:13 PM UTC

I use lastpass. Never tried any other password manager. I don't mind logging into it. On my phone I can swipe my thumb. The only thing I don't like is having to type out the long random passwords on non-physical-keyboards - like setting up a roku to connect to amazon play and spending an extra 15 clicks switching case/keyboard.

How often do you have to log into it? Is it specific to a device?

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#3

Post by pft » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:16 PM UTC

cwt wrote: post #2

I use lastpass. Never tried any other password manager. I don't mind logging into it. On my phone I can swipe my thumb. The only thing I don't like is having to type out the long random passwords on non-physical-keyboards - like setting up a roku to connect to amazon play and spending an extra 15 clicks switching case/keyboard. How often do you have to log into it? Is it specific to a device?

I'm guessing you use Lastpass premium if you use it on your phone? I use lastpass on all my devices. I like the phone app but I got premium for free for one year and it's about to run out. Looking for a free alternative.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#4

Post by rbcgerard » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:20 PM UTC

1password - its expensive, but i am very happy with it...

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#5

Post by tptacek » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:22 PM UTC

I use and recommend 1Password.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#6

Post by oddevan » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:24 PM UTC

rbcgerard wrote: post #4

1password - its expensive, but i am very happy with it...

I use a combination of the free tier of 1password on the phone and iCloud Keychain for Safari on everything. The canonical password is in iCloud, but if it's a random/nonstandard password I also put it into 1password (often by hand) since (a) TouchID makes 1password infinitely easier to unlock and (b) it's easier to browse/view saved passwords in 1password versus opening Settings then Safari then... you get the idea.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#7

Post by coherentpony » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:24 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #5

I use and recommend 1Password.

I also recommend this. I use it on my phone too. The downside is it's not targeted towards linux users. That said you can hack together access via Dropbox if you need access to your vault on linux.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#8

Post by maxcan » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:24 PM UTC

1password on iOS/OSX. There was a big discount on both a while back and I jumped on it. Even today, I'd consider paying for it. I've tried all the open source options, none of them worked nearly as well as 1pwd.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#9

Post by joeyrobert » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:26 PM UTC

PasswordSafe (http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/) for password storage + encryption. I sync the .psafe3 file using Bittorrent Sync (Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS clients). Works really well and I own my data.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords?

#10

Post by boydjd » Wed, Mar 11, 2015, 5:26 PM UTC

keepass. 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.