Too Many Password Managers

First I had too many passwords. (And still do.) But on top of that I now have too many password managers.

My web browser, Firefox, remembers web site passwords for me, which is very helpful indeed. (On a Mac, Safari does that too and additionally offers to generate random passwords for new sites, which is even better.)

I use KeePassX as my primary password manager. As well as username and password and web site URL, I find it useful to store the associated email address and some notes, e.g. “Dormant account: I requested to close it on 2016-01-01 but sign-in still works on 2017-01-01” or “Tried to update to my new email address on 2017-01-01 but the site refused: need to contact customer support”.

Thirdly, my operating system Ubuntu has its own “Passwords and Keys” app which stores passwords and keys on behalf of other applications.

Problems:

  • it’s a nuisance having to copy data between them (Firefox <-> KeePassX) when creating or changing a password
  • backup is complicated: I hardly know where all three stores are, or whether they are all uniformly backed up
  • three different master passwords to manage (no, don’t suggest what you’re thinking :-), and not being sure whether all three stores are similarly and sufficiently secured

Can I please have fewer password managers? OK I chose to add KeePassX into the mix, but Firefox forced its own one on me whereas I would like it to use either the operating system’s password manager or one that I designate.

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Thanks. I know there is a clunky disparity been the blog.* pages, which run in WordPress, and the www.* pages, which don’t. I created this blog in order to experiment with such technologies and will change it completely at some point when I figure out a better way.