Password Management as Online Service

If you aren't yet convinced that you should use a different, strong password to access any information you don't want compromised, I recently ran across this piece, which is downright scary.

In keeping with past habits, I'm presenting a second solution to the problem at hand, which in this case is password management. The first, KeePass, is a program that you download and run on your own computer. There is another approach, which is an online password manager. In this scheme, your data is stored on a remote server, and you access it with a web browser.

Featured Software:
   PassPack Online Password Manager

Because your data is online, you can access it from anywhere, with any computer, and without carrying the data around on portable media, such as a USB flash drive.

With an online password manager, you use a browser-based form to enter ID and password information. The information is encrypted by your browser before it is sent over the wire, and it is stored in encrypted form on the remote server. When you wish to access a password, you supply one passphrase to open your account, and another to unpack the data.

Because your data is stored in encrypted form and never passes "in the clear" over the network, this approach is regarded by security experts as potentially as safe, or even safer, than a program you run on your own computer. If a hacker gains entry to the server, all he sees is a big pile of encrypted data, which can't be decrypted without two passphrases per account.

There are a number of password manager services available on the network, and the two that consistently emerge as favorites are PassPack and Clipperz. They are both full-featured, and I'm somewhat conflicted about which one to point you to. I've decided to cover PassPack, in spite of the fact that it limits you to 100 passwords, whereas Clipperz is unlimited. My reason is all about ease of learning and ease of use, which are important elements of a mainstream solution. In fact, 100 passwords are probably plenty for a mainstreamer.

Ease of use often comes at the cost of power, and if you're interested in a more powerful and less limited solution, do look at Clipperz at this website .

PassPack Online Password Manager is attractive in both appearance and features, which in some ways are superior to PC-based programs. For example, PassPack offers protection against some common security risks, such as keyloggers, which are Trojan horse routines that capture your keystrokes as you type passwords and other sensitive information, and subsequently relay the information to intruders. And PassPack has an optional, and free, offline version which you can use in the event that you lose access to the network.

Take a gander at PassPack , and tell me what you think...

IronKey uses hardware encryption

Submitted by Darrell Icenogle on Tue, 10/23/2007 - 10:50am.

I ran across a company called "IronKey" which, in the area of portability, is something of a hybrid between the passwords-on-a-thumb-drive approach, as is possible with KeePass, and the passwords-via-browser scheme, like PassPack.  

IronKey starts with a USB flash drive, adding its own "cryptochip" to provide hardware encryption.  Its "Password Manager" software, stored on the thumb drive, hangs around, rather like Firefox and Internet Explorer, noticing when you log into something and asking whether you want IronKey to remember your ID and password.

Relative to KeePass and PassPack, IronKey raises the paranoia level a bit:

  • Hardware, rather than software encryption
  • Chip packed in 'potting compound' to avoid tampering
  • Waterproof
  • Self-destructs after ten missed passwords in a row, or physical tampering

Your data is backed up to IronKey's online service, so you have recourse in the event you lose it (or it self-destructs!)  I wasn't able to find out whether there is any discount for a replaced drive.

I won't be writing a Guide on IronKey, for a couple of reasons.  It isn't free, or even cheap, ranging in price  from $79 for a 1 gigabyte model to $149 for a 4 gigabyte model.  For the mainstreamer, I'm not sure the value is there, relative to the products we've already reviewed.  Still, it's kind of cool...

If you're interested, you can watch their demo here:

https://www.ironkey.com/demo

 

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