How do you handle your passwords?

d3Xt3r , 2 months ago

if any one of my Windows or Android units got stolen and somehow cracked into or something.

This shouldn't be a concern if you're using disk encryption and secure passwords, which is generally the default behaviour on most systems these days.

On Android, you don't need to worry about anything as long as you've got a pin/password configured, as disk encryption has been enabled by default for like a decade now.

On Windows, if you're on the Pro/Enterprise edition, you can use Bitlocker, but if you're on Home, you can use "device encryption" (which is like a lightweight Bitlocker) - but that requires a TPM chip and your Windows user account linked to a Microsoft account. If that is not an option, you could use VeraCrypt instead, which is an opensource disk encryption tool. Another option, if you're on a laptop, could be Opal encryption (aka TCG Opal SED), assuming your drive/BIOS supports it.

TL;DR: Encrypt yo' shit, and you don't need to worry about your data if your device gets stolen.

bloodfart , 2 months ago

do not do anything in this post until you have backups that you know run and work.

device encryption is fantastic.

Dymonika OP , 1 month ago

I'm mortified to say I could certainly do more in this regard. Do you recommend a preferred method?

bloodfart , 1 month ago

What matters is that the backups are done at the appropriate intervals and verified to be readable.

You can figure out what interval is appropriate. Some people have to make sure every picture is saved, some people are fine losing a month of stuff.

Verifying the backup is valid equally important. You don’t wanna find out it was misconfigured and didn’t get your user directories when you try to restore. Just open one up and look to see every once in a while.

At least fifteen years ago you could set up windows backups through the control panel > backup or something menu. Now on 10 it’s settings > updates and security > backups.

You can click add drive from there and designate a usb or something as your backup drive.

Then set an alarm to make sure you remember to do it at the designated interval.

With android the easiest thing is to sync it to a computer that gets backed up.

You can use cloud services instead of a hard drive too, but often simple and easy to understand is the best place to start.

Do you know why it’s important to have backups before using full disc encryption?

Dymonika OP , 1 month ago

Right, I can imagine that I could lock myself out otherwise. Thanks for the walkthrough!

bloodfart , 1 month ago

The lockout I see most often isn’t from people forgetting a password or key, but from motherboard failure with a key stored in the motherboards tpm or cpu.

mr_pip , 2 months ago

keepassxc database synced with syncthing across devices

fine_sandy_bottom , 2 months ago

This is the way OP. Centralised services are just too much a target for bad actors.

You already have syncthing so most of the way there.

Also built in TOTP / 2fa is pretty great.

shiftymccool , 2 months ago

Also built in TOTP / 2fa is pretty great.

I can't wrap my head around how this is a good idea. Isn't the idea of mfa to protect against password theft? If your second factor is stored with your password, how does that help anything? Honest question, I see this everywhere but can't figure out why it's acceptable with security-minded folks

Kayana , 1 month ago

Late reply, but for me personally, I started doing it because my Keepass database is already accessed using two factors (password and key file). Therefore, I'd gain very little by keeping the second factor of those sites external - essentially, those second factors are compounded into the second factor for the database.