We use all kinds of services, so we have a countless number of user names and passwords. Most of us might have anywhere between 20 and 100 logins to remember. If we are being honest, most of these logins may use the same username and password, with some minor variations. We save our passwords in our browsers, or on our local computers, some of us even save it in text files and notepads. This is not the best way to go about securing your device, especially when you hear the news of sites being hacked all the time. Anyone who has access to your PC, laptop or phone may be able to access these text files. A lot of trouble can come your way if the logins get into the wrong hands. Some of your logins might be available on some text dump on the web, without you ever knowing.
Some services even let you check if any of your accounts have been compromised. It’s easy. Simply enter your login e-mail on haveibeenpwned.com and it should list out the sites that were hacked and where your credentials might have been compromised. You should change those passwords right away, but is there anything else you can do? Change the passwords to very complex ones, using a unique password for every service and changing them from time to time are some ways. Easier said than done.
How does one really make a complicated password and one that is easy to remember? How does one keep track of all these unique and complex passwords? How does one stop web sites from being hacked? Even popular online password management services have been hacked in the past and that is scary. A good solution it appears might be to save the credentials yourself on your device. A popular solution is called KeePass.
KeePass is not a software; it is a standard. There are software that store and access KeePass databases that you can use on your device, which could be a smart phone, tablet, laptop, or PC. These software can autofill your login details for you once you enter a master password. Think of a master password as the one password that gives you access to all your passwords. We will guide you through the basics.
Installing KeePassXC on your PC
First, install the KeePassXC Password Manager (https://keepassxc.org/) on your primary PC or laptop. It makes it much simpler to add entries on a PC for all the web sites you have accounts in, than on a phone. We are using KeePassXC because it is little more refined than KeePass (https://keepass.info/), and it has a few more features. You can choose KeePass if you like or choose between the two.
You will be prompted to create a password database first. Give it a name. It is the file where all your credentials will be saved. You will also be prompted to enter the master password. Ensure this is a unique password. It will be the only password you might need to enter.
Adding password entries
Adding entries to KeepassXC is simple. It can be done manually, by clicking on Entries > New Entry. Here you can enter the web site you wish to save entries for, and the username and password. Passwords can also be edited similarly, by pressing Ctrl+E on an entry, or by double-clicking it. Ctrl+B copies the username, while Ctrl+C copies the password. This is one way of accessing your details. The preferable route is using a browser extension that does this task for you.
Installing a browser extension
KeePassXC has its own browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, and other related browsers. These can be easily setup to work alongside KeepassXC. New password entries can be automated from the browser itself. Every time you login with a username and password, KeePassXC’s browser plugin prompts you whether you wish to save the credentials. This is handy since it lets KeePassXC save entries from the browser to KeePassXC and vice-versa. KeePassXC fills passwords for you when it detects a web site where you have saved credentials. Enabling your browser to access is done in KeePassXC, through Tools > Settings > Browser Integration. Tick the browsers you want to allow access from.
Installing KeePass on your phone
KeepPass is available for smartphones and tablets as well in the form of apps. The most popular one is called Keepass2Android. In addition to being able to use the logins for web sites, you can also use to save and log into apps on your smartphone. The app has practically every feature seen on the desktop version. You can also use logins meant for web sites, on the responding apps.
Using the password generator
Generating strong passwords is critical to security. Fortunately, KeePassXC comes with its own password generator that can create passwords on demand, will any level of complexity as you wish. It is present through the Tools > Password Generator option. You can also access the generator from the web browser, by right clicking on the password fields. You can choose to save the updated password back in KeePassXC with relative ease too. It’s a good idea to go through all your passwords for web sites, and change them systematically.
Syncing the KeePassXC database
One of the important things you ought to do while using KeePassXC is synchronize the password database file between devices. You could do this using e-mail or using Google Drive. The idea is first to populate all the entries on your PC, then synchronize the database file to other devices. You can sync the files again when you add more entries. The mobile app we mentioned, Keepass2Android for example, lets you open database files from a variety of places.
KeepassXC can also be used to organize your usernames and passwords. You can store multiple databases of passwords, or club specific accounts into folders. There are even features in KeepassXC that let you check the strength of all your passwords. This way, you can make password changes to those accounts in order to secure them.
Using KeePass and KeePassXC can help you keep your accounts secure using strong passwords, that you do not need to worry about forgetting. Once setup, you can make it a habit to generate new passwords. KeePassXC can also be used to store credit card information, along with Wi-Fi passwords, even notes of information that you might normally have stored in some unsecured text file. We hope you give KeePassXC a try and it helps you secure your devices and data. For more such informative tips, and suggestions, keep reading Reliancedigital.in.
