{"id":16,"date":"2019-09-18T22:50:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T21:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/?p=16"},"modified":"2019-09-18T22:50:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T21:50:36","slug":"why-you-should-use-keepass-to-manage-passwords-and-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/why-you-should-use-keepass-to-manage-passwords-and-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Use KeePass to Manage Passwords and Keys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve tried to sign up for anything anywhere online in the past six months, you\u2019ve probably noticed that password requirements have become increasingly strict. Some websites have requirements that may even border on absurd. Hackers are smarter than they\u2019ve ever been and more people than ever use the internet to share or work with secure information. We need to make sure those lines don\u2019t cross. KeePass<\/a> might prove to be the most valuable answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Password\nMistakes People Make<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using an easy password like \u201cpassword123\u201d is just asking to\nget hacked. Many websites require a certain combination of uppercase letters,\nlowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. These are understandably a little\nharder to remember than your pet\u2019s name and your street address. It\u2019s much\neasier to remember just one of these complicated passwords, or to make the\neasiest possible version of such password. This still leaves you vulnerable to\npeople guessing, or getting one password right and finding that it works for\nmost of your accounts. If you happen to use the same password across many\nwebsites its just a matter of time before one of them leaks, compromising all\nof your accounts at once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitigating\nSecurity Threats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should use a different, difficult password for\nabsolutely everything. Writing them all down or storing them in a file still\nleaves you vulnerable. It only takes one person to find a piece of paper or one\ncracked password to access everything you have stored. That\u2019s where KeePass\ncomes into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you use a password manager like KeePass, you can create\nlengthy and impossible passwords that you\u2019ll never need to write down and\nremember. Keeping a different password for everything makes you all the more\nsecure \u2013 if someone is trying to steal your identity, they can\u2019t log into your\nbank and your credit card statement with the same password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KeePass is a safe and easy open source tool you can use to\nsecure all of your unique passwords so you can log into everything. You only\nneed to remember one password \u2013 the password to your KeePass database. KeePass\ndoes it all for you, and you\u2019re safe without having to give it a second\nthought. It even comes in a portable version that you can place on a flash\ndrive and take with you everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using\nKeePass<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KeePass comes in several versions \u2013 desktop, portable,\nAndroid, and iOS. You can use it on virtually any device that connects to the\ninternet. Make sure you\u2019re installing the one you need. Just download it, unzip\nit, and click on the KeePass.exe file to begin the installation process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will first be presented with a database login. You don\u2019t\nhave a password database yet, so close it. It will open up a blank database\nthat you can start customizing. Click file, then click new, then click OK. It\nwill automatically generate a blank database document ending in \u201c.KDBX\u201d \u2013 you\ncan name the document whatever you choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re going to need to set a master password for KeePass.\nIf you play your cards right, it\u2019s the only password you\u2019ll have to remember.\nMake it a really, really difficult one. KeePass will evaluate the security of\nyour password based on its metrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once your master password is in place, you can add your list\nof passwords to KeePass. It will ask you about printing an emergency sheet.\nPrint that emergency sheet, write your KeePass password on it, and store it in\na lockbox. If anything happens or you manage to forget the only password you\u2019ll\never need to remember, you know how to retrieve it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building\nYour Database and Logging Into Things<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building the password database is easy. You can title your\npassword (ideally, use the website it is for as the title to prevent mix ups),\ninput your username, and input the password. If you want to update your\npasswords, KeePass also offers a secure password generator. Make sure you\nactually change your passwords to ascertain that your login information mirrors\nwhat you have stored in KeePass. If you need to see your password, you can\nclick the three dots to the right of the password field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you need to use your password to log in, right click\nthe password field and select \u201ccopy password\u201d. Quickly paste it into the\npassword field of the website you\u2019re logging into. You have about 12 seconds to\ncopy and paste it \u2013 if you wait too long, KeePass is going to wipe it from your\nclipboard\u2019s memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Keepass stores your database of passwords in an\nencrypted container file, it\u2019s also an ideal place to backup OpenPGP keys from\nPrivateMail. Simply copy\/paste your OpenPGP keychain contents in the entry\nnotes and click save. If you ever need to restore your OpenPGP keychain on\nanother web browser or device, it\u2019s easy to copy\/paste this data securely right\nfrom Keepass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KeePass is easy to use. You don\u2019t have to jump through too\nmany hoops to be safe. It simplifies your life by only requiring you to\nremember one hard password, instead of dozens of hard passwords or a few\ndangerously simple ones. You can keep yourself safe online and commit to\nlengthy and complicated passwords without much effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve tried to sign up for anything anywhere online in the past six months, you\u2019ve probably noticed that password requirements have become increasingly strict. Some websites have requirements that may even border on absurd. Hackers are smarter than they\u2019ve ever been and more people than ever use the internet to share or work with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[8,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/18"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/privatemail.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}