Keepass – Free Password Security

This post was written by admin on August 19, 2009
Posted Under: PC Security, Password Security, Technology

Using the internet today users have to remember many passwords such as for e-mail accounts, online banking, homepage FTP, social sites and forums, and so the list goes on.

For each account for which you have a password, it should be a different one, although many users use the same one for each site they need one for. Many users also use simple, easy to remember phrases or save them to a file stored locally on their computer, but they should appear to be a random string of characters to an attacker and should be 14 characters or longer, eight characters being the minimum, and should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

This is very dangerous, especially with the increasing number of information stealing trojans. Imagine if the crooks behind much of the malware managed to steal all of your logon details and had access to all of your information. It would be like an open book to them!

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage all of your passwords in a secure way by putting them all into one single encrypted database, which is locked with one master key or a key file.

Users only have to remember one Master Password or select the ‘key file’ -- or use both for greater security -- to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known -- AES and Twofish.

KeePass 1.16 Runs on all Windows systems and does not need to be installed, it can be run from a usb stick making it fully portable although with less features than Keepass 2.08 which requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher installed, and can also be run from a usb stick, so no installation is required.

Click here for a full feature comparison

Being fully portable is a great bonus, especially if you have access to different computers, such as at home and at the office, or if using computers elsewhere.

The program is Open Source which allows the ability to analyze the encryption methods and is also Cross Platform, clients are available for Windows, Ubuntu, Linux, MacOS X, J2ME (Cell Phones), Blackberry, Windows Mobile and more.

Installation is very simple, simply download the installer.exe for Windows which will install locally on your hard drive, or download the ZIP Package and unzip it to a portable device.

Once installed, open Keepass by double clicking the icon either on your computer or portable device, go to File and click Open and create a new file.

While you type your passphrase, it will tell you how many bits encryption it will provide, and also a bar with how secure it is. Users can also make KeePass more secure by ticking ‘Use master password and key file’. After hitting OK, enter your passphrase again to make sure they match.

Remember, this is the ONLY phrase you will need to remember.

Inside Keepass you will see a folder structure where you can organize your logins according to the type or use. Users can create separate file structures for work, office and home use.

Right click in the right pane and users can add a new group. Click on the group that you want to add a new url to, click ‘Add Entry’, enter the details and don’t forget the all important URL. Notes are optional.

A password will be automatically generated, very useful if you are making a new account. Click the three dots to change from a masked password to the plain text one.

If you want to have greater control over your new password, while maintaining security, KeePass includes a generation tool.

Users can click the box ‘Collect additional entropy’ and this will ask you to move your mouse randomly around a box or type in random letters.
Remember to save your database, either to your usb stick or to ‘My Documents’ if installed locally on your computer. Ensure that you also create a backup copy.

To enable support for other languages, download a KeePass translation package and unzip the *.lng file to your KeePassPortableAppsKeePass directory.

Click here to view FAQ’s

There are many plugins available for use with both versions.
Click here for information on plugins

This is a great tool which increases your security, and if installed on a usb stick it can be used on any computer. If using on a shared computer or at work, there is a useful feature in the ‘Tools’ section which allows users to ‘lock’ the workspace (KeePass) after a preset period of time. So if you get called away the program will lock and minimize to the system tray and without the right combination, no one will be able to open it.

Download KeePass here

Check your password strength here