Password manager
A password manager is a program that stores all your passwords encrypted behind a single master password, and fills them in for you when you log into each website or app.
- What it is
- Encrypted password vault
- Since
- 1997
- Verdict
- Yes
What it is
A password manager creates a long, unique password for every account, stores it encrypted, and fills it in for you when you need it. You only have to remember one: your master password. It can be a standalone app (Bitwarden, 1Password, Proton Pass) or built into your system (iCloud Keychain on Apple, Google Password Manager on Android and Chrome).
Some also store your two-step verification (2FA) codes, not just passwords, which makes them a very central piece of your recovery system.
Since when
The first dedicated, encrypted password manager was Password Safe, created by cryptographer Bruce Schneier and released as a free utility on September 5, 1997, for Windows 95, encrypted with the Blowfish algorithm. Since then, every operating system and manufacturer has added its own built-in version.
Why it's used
Reusing the same password across several accounts is the most common and most expensive security mistake: if one website leaks your data, every other account sharing that password falls with it. A manager gives each account its own long, random password, without you having to memorize them.
The flip side, and our angle: a password manager usually asks for its own second factor to log in, and that second factor sometimes lives on the same phone, or even inside the same app. If your email depends on the manager and the manager depends on a code that only exists on your phone, you have a circular dependency: no link opens without the one before it.
Do we use it?
It's the right call for security, with one condition: its own recovery can't depend only on the phone you could lose.
Check this
- Do you know your master password by heart, without your phone remembering it for you?
- Do you have the manager's recovery code or kit stored outside your phone?
- Does the second factor for logging into the manager live somewhere other than the manager itself?
Official sources: Password Safe project history