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authorThibaut Horel <thibaut.horel@gmail.com>2013-03-01 02:46:11 +0100
committerThibaut Horel <thibaut.horel@gmail.com>2013-03-01 02:46:11 +0100
commite22a2777522b40eef8aa1449de880035edb505cf (patch)
treedda00af850ae8f2f4670e8eabb4bb44bc9713a28
parentb3f04bc23e4c69f85ac00ecbb61d71230c1464cd (diff)
downloadblog-e22a2777522b40eef8aa1449de880035edb505cf.tar.gz
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+How I solved my password problem
+================================
+
+:date: 2013-02-24 23:00
+:status: draft
+
+.. :status: draft
+
+Everybody knows that *password reuse* (using the same password on different
+services, websites, etc.) is a bad habit from the point of view of security.
+The reason is simple: if a single website where your password is used gets
+compromised, then somebody could get access to your password and consequently
+get access to your account on all the websites where you use the same password.
+You can get a full description of this phenomenon on XKCD_.
+
+.. _XKCD: http://xkcd.com/792/
+
+On a less funny note, there have been countless_ stories_ of password breaches
+where password databases of major websites got compromised. These incidents
+revealed that very often, these websites do not follow even the very basic
+security practices to protect their user passwords.
+
+.. _stories: http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/14/rockyou-hack-security-myspace-facebook-passwords/
+.. _countless: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/07/yahoo-password-breach-includes-gmail-hotmail-and-aol-users/
+
+Despite, having been well aware of this fact for years, I have never really
+taken the problem seriously, barely using a few different passwords depending
+on the level of trust I had in the websites. About one year ago, my Gmail
+account has been hacked and used to send spam emails to my contact list: it is
+a very unpleasant experience when you are being asked by one of your colleague
+to explain the “funny email” that was sent on your behalf... This is when
+I decided to have only single-purpose passwords. However, it quickly became
+apparent to me that I would need a proper set of tools to handle them. My
+requirements for this set of tools were the following:
+
+* the core of the solution had to be open-source: you can read `Bruce
+ Schneier's opinion`_ about why open-source is good for security.
+* there had to be real-time synchronization of my passwords on the different
+ machines I use.
+* there had to be a way to access my passwords on my phone, in the case where
+ I need a password on a machine I do not use regularly.
+
+.. _Bruce Schneier's opinion: http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9909.html#OpenSourceandSecurity
+
+The solution I found, which I have now been happily using for some time, is the
+combo: KeePassX + Dropbox + KeePassDroid.
+
+KeePassX
+--------
+
+Here is the description of KeePassX you can find on its official website_:
+
+ KeePassX is an application for people with extremly high demands on secure
+ personal data management. It has a light interface, is cross platform and
+ published under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
+
+ KeePassX saves many different information e.g. user names, passwords, urls,
+ attachments and comments in one single database. For a better management
+ user-defined titles and icons can be specified for each single entry.
+ Furthermore the entries are sorted in groups, which are customizable as
+ well. The integrated search function allows to search in a single group or
+ the complete database.
+
+The idea behind KeePassX is simple: all your passwords are stored in a database
+which is encrypted by your *master password* (a password you choose when
+creating the database). Every time you launch KeePassX, the password has to be
+typed to unlock the database. Once it is unlocked, you have a nice and simple
+interface to add/delete/modify password, organize them in different subgroups,
+etc.
+
+.. figure:: static/images/keepassx.png
+ :target: static/images/keepassx.png
+
+ KeePassX interface
+
+Let me mention here the killer-feature of KeePassX, *autofill*: it allows you
+to automatically fill your username and password in a login form by pressing
+a global shortcut. KeePassX decides which password to use on which website
+based on the window title that you associate with the password when creating
+it.
+
+.. _website: http://www.keepassx.org/
+
+Dropbox
+-------
+
+The password database being just a single file (with extension .kdb), the
+synchronization of my passwords across several computers was really easy to
+setup: I just added the database file to my Dropbox folder.
+
+I am not fully satisfied by this part of the solution and would feel more
+comfortable if I were not relying on a third-party to store my passwords.
+However, the database file which is hosted by Dropbox is encrypted by my master
+password and I can live with this at the moment. Yet, I would be happy to find
+an open-source synchronization tool which stands comparison with Dropbox.
+
+KeepassDroid
+------------
+
+Finally, getting access to my passwords on my phone simply involved installting
+two applications found on Google Play (my phone runs Android): KeePassDroid_
+and Dropbox_.
+
+.. _KeePassDroid: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.keepass
+.. _Dropbox: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dropbox.android
+
+The Dropbox app will take care of getting your password database file on your
+phone memory. Then, you can link the file to the KeePassDroid app by following
+these steps:
+
+* in the Dropbox app, navigate to your password database file and try to open
+ it.
+* if you have the KeePassDroid app installed, you will have the option to open
+ the file with it. Choose this option.
+* on the first screen presented to you, check the option "Use this as my
+ default database" and type in your password.
+* you should now be able to navigate through your password database.
+
+If you are an iPhone user, iKeePass_ should do the job.
+
+.. _iKeePass: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/ikeepass/id299697688?mt=8
+
+Conclusion
+----------
+
+I am not claiming that my solution is the perfect way to manage your passwords:
+this is just the solution I currently use, and it has worked well for me until
+now.
+
+I know that some people have been successfully using LastPass_: the approach is
+browser-based and very different from the one described in this article, but
+I would be interested to find a comparison of the two solutions from the point
+of view of usability.
+
+.. _LastPass: https://lastpass.com/
diff --git a/theme/static/main.css b/theme/static/main.css
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@@ -107,3 +107,9 @@ tt{
font-family: Monaco,Menlo,Consolas,"Courier New",monospace;
font-size: 110%;
}
+
+.figure .caption{
+ text-align: center;
+ font-style: italic;
+ margin-top: 0.5em;
+}