Password managers offer greater security and convenience for the use of passwords to access online services. Greater security is achieved principally through the capability of most password manager applications to generate unique, long, complex, easily changed passwords for all online accounts and the secure encrypted storage of those passwords either through a local or cloud-based vault. Greater convenience is provided by the use of a single master password to access the password vault rather than attempting to memorize different passwords for all accounts. Most password manager applications offer additional capabilities that enhance both convenience and security such as storage of credit card and frequent flyer information and autofill functionality.
(Redirected from Password vault)
The compromise of the master secret to a password vault would require all passwords in the vault to be recreated. However, many password managers today provide two-factor capability and are designed in a way that cloud password services are not able to access the vault, even if compromised. Password managers contain much information that is valuable to cyber criminals, making them high-value targets, so securing these vaults is essential.[1]
A password manager assists in generating and retrieving complex passwords, potentially storing such passwords in an encrypted database[2] or calculating them on demand.[3]
Types of password managers include:
ICloud Keychain Security. Due to Apple's commitment to privacy and security, the data stored in iCloud Keychain remains protected even if the user's iCloud account has been compromised. This is true even if iCloud is compromised by an external attack or a third party accesses user accounts. Secure and simplify online shopping by storing your payment information in a digital wallet. Online Username Generator Tool. Use our online username generator to instantly create a secure, random username. Online Password Generator Tool. Use our online password generator to instantly create a secure, random password. Secure Password Vault. The free version of Dashlane is a capable password manager for a single device, capable of storing logins for up to 50 accounts in a secure vault with multi-factor authentication, Like LastPass. Password managers commonly reside on the user's personal computer or mobile device, such as smart phones, in the form of a locally installed software application. These applications can be offline, wherein the password database is stored independently and locally on.
Depending on the type of password manager used and on the functionality offered by its developers, the encrypted database is either stored locally on the user's device or stored remotely through an online file-hosting service. Password managers typically require a user to generate and remember one 'master' password to unlock and access any information stored in their databases.
User model[edit]
From the userâs point of view, there are two types of password managers. They both reduce the risks of data loss and facilitate the management of passwords. The difference is that the personal password manager is designed to organize passwords of an individual, whereas team password manager enables more secure and efficient team collaboration.
Personal password manager[edit]
Personal password managers (PPM) store private passwords and other types of credentials. They also generate new passwords. One of the key features is the autofill, because it makes the everyday use of PPM more comfortable by entering log-in details automatically or on the userâs demand.
Team password manager[edit]
Team password managers (TPM) store passwords and other types of credentials shared by members of a team or employees in a company, providing a for their collaboration. Thus, their role is to mitigate the risk of a password leaking when being transferred between two PPMs. Originally, team password managers were designed to replace other widespread means of sharing team passwords, such as text documents.
TPMs are a security measure replacing text documents containing team passwords that are passed around in teams and companies, which makes the confidential information vulnerable.[4]
Architecture model[edit]Locally installed software[edit]
Password managers commonly reside on the user's personal computer or mobile device, such as smart phones, in the form of a locally installed software application. These applications can be offline, wherein the password database is stored independently and locally on the same device as the password manager software. Alternatively, password managers may offer or require a cloud-based approach, wherein the password database is dependent on an online file hosting service and stored remotely, but handled by password management software installed on the user's device.
Some offline password managers do not require Internet permission, so there is no leakage of data due to the network. To some extent, a fully offline password manager is more secure, but may be much weaker in convenience and functionality than an online one.
Cloud software[edit]
Cloud software is another version of online password manager. Cloud software is a software that is build to run in cloud. It is also referred to as cloud native. The software is not self-hosted but runs in the userâs cloud infrastructure provided by a cloud vendor.
The advantages of cloud software over locally installed software are the same like those of web-based services: portability and reduced risk of losing passwords. However, due to different nature of the online storage, the risk of data loss due to damage to the device or server is further mitigated.
The major advantage of cloud software over the web-based service is that the provider party is not involved: the user installs the software directly to their cloud infrastructure. The major advantage over self-hosted software is lower (or almost zero) maintenance.[5]
Web-based services[edit]
An online password manager is a website that securely stores login details. They are a web-based version of more conventional desktop-based password manager.
The advantages of online password managers over desktop-based versions are portability (they can generally be used on any computer with a web browser and a network connection, without having to install software), and a reduced risk of losing passwords through theft from or damage to a single PC â although the same risk is present for the server that is used to store the users passwords on. In both cases this risk can be prevented by ensuring secure backups are taken. Reliable online services should support backup option thanks to data portability law.
The major disadvantages of online password managers are the requirements that the user trusts the hosting site and a keylogger is not on the computer they are using. With servers and the cloud being a focus of cyber attacks, how one authenticates into the online service and that the passwords stored there are encrypted with a user defined key are just as important. Again, users tend to circumvent security for convenience. Another important factor is whether one or two way encryption is used.[citation needed]
There are mixed solutions. Some online password management systems distribute their source code. It can be checked and installed separately.[citation needed]
The use of a web-based password manager is an alternative to single sign-on techniques, such as OpenID or Microsoft's Microsoft account (previously Microsoft Wallet, Microsoft Passport, .NET Passport, Microsoft Passport Network, and Windows Live ID) scheme, or may serve as a stop-gap measure pending adoption of a better method.[citation needed]
Token-based hardware devices[edit]
Security tokens are a form of token-based password manager, wherein a locally-accessible hardware device, such as smart cards or secure USB flash devices, is used to authenticate a user in lieu of or in addition to a traditional text-based password. The data stored in the token is usually encrypted to prevent probing and unauthorized reading of the data. Some token systems still require software loaded on the PC along with hardware (smart card reader) and drivers to properly read and decode the data.
Advantages[edit]
The advantage of password-based access controls is that they are easily incorporated in most software using APIs available in many software products, they require no extensive computer/server modifications, and that users are already familiar with the use of passwords. While passwords can be fairly secure, the weakness is how users choose and manage them, by using:
It is typical to make at least one of these mistakes. This makes it very easy for hackers, crackers, malware and cyber thieves to break into individual accounts, corporations of all sizes, government agencies, institutions, etc. It is protecting against these vulnerabilities that makes password managers so important.
Password managers can also be used as a defense against phishing and pharming. Unlike human beings, a password manager program can also incorporate an automated login script that first compares the current site's URL to the stored site's URL. If the two do not match then the password manager does not automatically fill in the login fields. This is intended as a safeguard against visual imitations and look-alike websites. With this built-in advantage, the use of a password manager is beneficial even if the user only has a few passwords to remember. While not all password managers can automatically handle the more complex login procedures imposed by many banking websites, many of the newer password managers handle complex passwords, multi-page fill-ins, and multi-factor authentication prior.
Password managers can protect against keyloggers or keystroke logging malware. When using a multi-factor authentication password manager that automatically fills in logon fields, the user does not have to type any user names or passwords for the keylogger to pick up. While a keylogger may pick up the PIN to authenticate into the smart card token, for example, without the smart card itself (something the user has) the PIN does the attacker no good. However, password managers cannot protect against Man-in-the-browser attacks, where malware on the user's device performs operations (e.g. on a banking website) while the user is logged in while hiding the malicious activity from the user.
Issues[edit]Vulnerabilities[edit]
If the passwords are stored in an unencrypted fashion, it is still generally possible to obtain the passwords given local access to the machine.
Some password managers use a user-selected master password or passphrase to form the key used to encrypt the protected passwords. The security of this approach depends on the strength of the chosen password (which might be guessed or brute-forced), and also that the passphrase itself is never stored locally where a malicious program or individual could read it. A compromised master password renders all of the protected passwords vulnerable.
As with any system which involves the user entering a password, the master password may also be attacked and discovered using key logging or acoustic cryptanalysis. Some password managers attempt to use virtual keyboards to reduce this risk â though this is still vulnerable to key loggers that take screenshots as data is entered. This risk can be mitigated with the use of a multi-factor verification device.
Some password managers include a password generator. Generated passwords may be guessable if the password manager uses a weak random number generator instead of a cryptographically secure one.
A strong password manager will include a limited number of false authentication entries allowed before the password manager is locked down and requires IT services to re-activate. This is the best way to protect against the brute-force attack.
Secure Offline Password Vault Random Key Generator Keychain Download
Password managers that do not prevent swapping their memory to hard drive make it possible to extract unencrypted passwords from the computerâs hard drive.[citation needed] Turning off swap can prevent this risk.
Web-based password managers, which run inside the browser of the user, are particularly fraught with pitfalls. A detailed study using several password managers uncovered the following possible flaws inside web-based password managers:[7]
Furthermore, password managers have the disadvantage that any potential hacker or malware just need to know one password to gain access to all of a user's passwords and that such managers have standardized locations and ways of storing passwords which can be exploited by malware.[citation needed]
Blocking of password managers[edit]
Various high-profile websites have attempted to block password managers, often backing down when publicly challenged.[9][10][11] Reasons cited have included protecting against automated attacks, protecting against phishing, blocking malware, or simply denying compatibility. The Trusteer client security software from IBM features explicit options to block password managers.[12][13]
Such blocking has been criticized by information security professionals as making users less secure and that justifications are bogus.[11][13] The typical blocking implementation involves setting autocomplete='off' on the relevant password web form. Consequently, this option is now ignored from Internet Explorer 11[10] on https sites,[14]Firefox 38,[15]Chrome 34,[16] and in Safari from about 7.0.2.[17]
Secure Offline Password Vault Random Key Generator Keychain Generator
A 2014 paper from researcher at the Carnegie Mellon University found that whilst browsers refuse to autofill if the protocol on the current login page is different from the protocol at the time the password was saved, some password managers would insecurely fill in passwords for the http version of https-saved passwords. Most managers did not protect against iframe and redirection based attacks and exposed additional passwords where password synchronization had been used between multiple devices.[14]
See also[edit]Secure Offline Password Vault Random Key Generator Keychain FreeReferences[edit]
External links[edit]
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