Keepass Password Manager
Lilliana Adames
KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manageyour passwords in a secure way. You can store all your passwords in onedatabase, which is locked with a master key. So you only have to remember onesingle master key to unlock the whole database. Database files are encryptedusing the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known(AES-256, ChaCha20 and Twofish).For more information, see the features page.
Is it really free?
Yes, KeePass is really free, and more than that: it is open source (OSI certified).You can have a look at its full source code and check whether the securityfeatures are implemented correctly.
As a cryptography and computer security expert, I have neverunderstood the current fuss about the open source software movement. In thecryptography world, we consider open source necessary for good security; we havefor decades. Public security is always more secure than proprietary security.It's true for cryptographic algorithms, security protocols, and security sourcecode. For us, open source isn't just a business model; it's smart engineeringpractice.
Bruce Schneier, Crypto-Gram 1999-09-15.
Importing passwords from other databases is pretty straightforward. KeePass can import from more than 40 other password managers, including popular commercial options such as Dashlane, Bitwarden, and LastPass, as well as from Firefox and Chrome browsers.
In addition to passwords, you can store credit cards, notes, and other sensitive personal information in KeePass. But as with passwords, it typically takes more steps and tweaking than in other password managers.
If you forget this master password, all your other passwords in the database are lost, too. There isn't any backdoor or a key which can open all databases. There is no way of recovering your passwords.
If its correctly built (and by all accounts it is), your chances of recovering your password are very limited - luck, knowledge about yourself and your behaviour, you may be able to narrow down the key space and brute force it. There are tools to brute force Keepass files - see here. That said, its likely easier and faster to simply reset all your passwords.
Massive data dumps such as these become treasure troves for research of human behavior in the context of security. The US Company Preempt revealed that a staggering 35% of the passwords in the dump could already be found in password dictionaries available prior to the breach. Statistics like these remind us to keep our passwords as strong as possible.
Today we are going to perform a simple attack on a KeePass database file and attempt to break a master password. For those unfamiliar with the software, KeePass is a popular open source password manager. Say you have 50 different passwords for different purposes that you need to remember, how do you go about remembering them all? Some people will write them down in a book. Others may store them in a plain text file - definitely not recommended! A third approach is to use a software application like KeePass. What it does is encrypt all passwords provided to the tool using AES in combination with a master password and optionally a key file. When a user then wishes to recall any particular password they will provide their master password to the tool; in response, the tool will decrypt all passwords in plain text allowing the user to check the entry of their interest.
For the software system to verify the validity of the master password provided it will apply a hashing algorithm to the string given in concatenation with other data. All those who have meddled in the password cracking world know that whenever a hash is available a brute force or dictionary attack can be launched.
So how can we do this? The first step is to extract the hash out of the KeePass database file. Here is a KeePass database we created with a very simple password that we will use for the course of this tutorial.
We now have our extracted hash file ready to be cracked. The next step is to download a password cracking utility. The greatest by far is Hashcat available from here. What makes Hashcat the leader of such tools is its massive collection of predefined hashing algorithms and its ability to utilize a computers GPU to increase cracking speeds by an enormous degree.
As of Hashcat version 3.0 the software supports KeePass with no custom algorithms needed to be defined. We can run a quick grep command to learn the switch value of 13400 needed for our invocation of the binary.
Next, we need to make an edit to our hash file. The hashcat binary does not expect the name of our KeePass database to be pre-pended to our hash so we will have to trim the string with a text editor; after doing so our hash file will look as follows.
KeePass Password Safe is a free and open-source password manager primarily for Windows. It officially supports macOS and Linux operating systems through the use of Mono.[1] Additionally, there are several unofficial ports for Windows Phone, Android, iOS, and BlackBerry devices, which normally work with the same copied or shared (remote) password database.[2][3][4][5][6] KeePass stores usernames, passwords, and other fields, including free-form notes and file attachments, in an encrypted file. This file can be protected by any combination of a master password, a key file, and the current Windows account details. By default, the KeePass database is stored on a local file system (as opposed to cloud storage).[7]
KeePass comes in two different variants: KeePass 1.x and KeePass 2.x. Although the 1.x variant is the former variant it is supported indefinitely: Dominik Reichl: "2.x isn't the successor of 1.x, and 1.x isn't dead".[8] KeePass 2.x has a different software basis in C# instead of the former C++. Mainly communication features are extended in KeePass 2.x: authentication with the Windows user account, remote and shared database editing as well as many plugins allowing communication and authentication with different web browsers, databases and more.[9][10]
KeePass 1.x and 2.x support a number of plugins, although 2.x allows more plugins.[10] It has a password generator and synchronization function, supports two-factor authentication, and has a Secure Desktop mode. It can use a two-channel auto-type obfuscation feature to offer additional protection against keyloggers.[11] KeePass can import from over 30 other most commonly used password managers.[11]
A 2017 Consumer Reports article described KeePass as one of the four most widely used password managers (alongside 1Password, Dashlane and LastPass), being "popular among tech enthusiasts" and offering the same level of security as non-free competitors.[12]
A 2019 Independent Security Evaluators study described KeePass as well as other widely used password managers as being unable to control Windows 10's tendency to leave passwords in cleartext in RAM after they are displayed using Windows controlled GUI.[13] In addition, several GitHub projects (KeeFarce, KeeThief, Lazanga) specifically attack a running KeePass to steal all data when the host is compromised. KeePass cannot prevent password theft and, as Dominik Reichl, the administrator of KeePass, states, "neither KeePass nor any other password manager can magically run securely in a spyware-infected, insecure environment."[14]
The password list is saved by default as a .kdbx file, but it can be exported to .txt, HTML, XML and CSV.[15] The XML output can be used in other applications and re-imported into KeePass using a plugin. The CSV output is compatible with many other password safes like the commercial closed-source Password Keeper and the closed-source Password Agent. Also, the CSVs can be imported by spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc.
KeePass supports simultaneous access and simultaneous changes to a shared password file by multiple computers (often by using a shared network drive), however there is no provisioning of access per-group or per-entry.[17] As of May 2014, there are no plugins available to add provisioned multi-user support, but there exists a proprietary password server (Pleasant Password Server) that is compatible with the KeePass client and includes provisioning.[18]
KeePass can minimize itself and type the information of the currently selected entry into dialogs, webforms, etc. KeePass has a global auto-type hot key. When KeePass is running in the background (with an unlocked database) and user presses down the hotkey, it looks up the selected (or correct) entry and enters every login and/or password characters sequence.[19] All fields, such as title, username, password, URL, and notes, can be drag and dropped into other windows.[citation needed]
KeePass automatically clears the clipboard some time after the user has copied one of their passwords into it. KeePass features protection against clipboard monitors (other applications will not get notifications that the clipboard content has been changed).[citation needed]
The auto-type functionality works with all windows, and consequently with all browsers. The KeeForm extension fills in user details into website form fields automatically. It is available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer also has a browser integration toolbar available.[21]
KeePass has a plugin architecture. There are various plugins available from the KeePass website (such as import/export from/to various other formats, database backup, integration, automation, etc.). Note that plugins may compromise the security of KeePass, because they are written by independent authors and have full access to the KeePass database.[10]
According to the utility's author, KeePass was one of the first password management utilities to use security-enhanced password edit controls, in this case one called CSecureEditEx.[23] The author makes several claims regarding the security of the control and its resistance to password revealing utilities; however, the author does not cite or make any references to any third-party testing of the control to corroborate the claims of its security.[24]
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