Lesson 3: Password Management with KeePassX
Lesson on password management with KeePassX, Dashlane, LastPass, Zoho Vault.
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Lesson on password management with KeePassX, Dashlane, LastPass, Zoho Vault.
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Now we are going to access a fantastic example of an open source program that can help you protect some of your most important digital assets, your user name and password data. Lots of people use commercial products such as LastPass, Dashlane or Zoho Vault, but the fact that that these platforms do not publish their source code is a red flag for the truly security-minded. If the source code is not published openly, how can you really know of vulnerabilities that exist?
So without any further ado, let's dive into KeePassX!
Using Tor Browser, navigate to .
Download and install the appropriate package for your computer.
Launch KeePassX. Tip: Hover the mouse pointer over the icons in the toolbar to review tool tips about the actions those icons perform.
Select Database > Create New Database.
Thinking back to lesson one in this module, enter your master password. This is the only password that you should ever have to remember again, so make sure you haven’t skipped lesson 1!
Ignoring the “Key File” section, click OK at the bottom of the window.
On the menu bar select Database > Save Database. Name your database and save it to a safe place on your machine.
Saved user names and passwords are called “entries”. To create your first new entry, right click in the blue-and-white striped area and select Add new entry.
Add the relevant information. Note: You can generate a random password key by clicking Gen.
Save your entry by clicking OK at the bottom of the window.
Now comes the slightly tedious bit. Find your existing user name and password list – wherever you currently have it hiding – and import every entry into KeePassX. While you are doing this, go to each account and update the passwords to be strong passwords generated by KeePassX.
When you have imported all your user name and password pairs, copy your KeePassX database to your encrypted drive. Remember that every time you update your ‘master database’ on your computer, you need to make a back-up of it on your encrypted USB drive. Remember to regularly back-up!
Finished at last!