Hello Super-Parents! In today's blog we're talking about creating safe secure unique, long and hard to crack passwords that leverage every character on your keyboard to safely secure your account from brute force and dictionary attacks. ## Video Version #vlog  ## Why use a Password Manager Password managers are not a new thing, and yet they're not as ubiquitous as perhaps they should be. A password manager is a credential store for your passwords that allow you to generate, and save passwords for a whole manner of different services, websites and other things. In a lot of instances it lets you temporarily copy a password to a clipboard and paste it quickly, or have it automatically typed into the website itself. Now I hear you - You already have that in your "Insert favourite web-browser here". Yes you're correct they do have password services embedded into your favourite browser, but the catch is that your favourite browser is also updating from newly discovered vulnerabilities almost every single day. Meaning that if you go to that one nasty website, there's every chance that your computer has been compromised, and all your passwords have gone with it. There is may as well be no security on those passwords stored. Enter a password vault, it's external to your browser, encrypted in a database, and if you're taking steps to keep it backed up, actually presents greater availability for other services, like your apps on your phone and tablet devices. ## What is KeepassXC KeepassXC is a free open-source password manager that works on pretty much every operating system and mobile device there is, making it portable and secure for you to use effectively. KeepassXC and it's cousin Keepass are two of many password vaults solutions out there that offer a secure way to generate a new password for each service. The password database is protected by a number of optional steps, and is encrypted, meaning even if your database was left somewhere it would take some effort to break your master password to get into the account. It is not the best or worst, it is merely a free offering that offers good security that can be installed locally, and has good device compatibility. ## Getting Started When getting started with Keepass head to your favourite internet browser, and head on over to https://keepassxc.org/ and click the Download button ![[KeepassWeb.png]] From there we're going to click on Download for Windows. This will download the executable. For a more portable version that you can use without installing it, the Portable version presents a lot of value. ![[KeepassDownload.png]] Open the Installer - you might get this popup, click yes to continue / allow the changes on your device. ![[KeepassInstall.png]] Click Next ![[KeePass Installer.png]] Choose a destination folder and click next. ![[KeepassFolder.png]] ## Creating your first database Click Create new database ![[keepassnewDB.png]] Give it a name that's meaningful to you, passwords does attract attention if you were to leave it as that. ![[KeepassDb1.png]] Set the decryption time to something you can tolerate, 2.5s is a happy medium here. Leave KDBX 4 And don't worry about Advanced settings. ![[KeepassDb2.png]] Enter a secure password - I would actually recommend a secure passphrase of 4 words or more. https://passphra.se is a good site to help generate them, if you're worried about losing it, it's worth writing it down in your smart phone note keeping app. ![[keepassdb3.png]] Click Add Additional protection, and choose Add Key file. ![[keepassdb4.png]] Press Generate ![[keepassdb5.png]] give it a name, and save it somewhere safe and click save. ![[keepassdb6.png]] And that's it, you're in your first database!! ## First Password Click the + ![[keepasspass1.png]] Fill in the title (what the password database knows it as - like Netflix) your username, and the URL, then click generate password. ![[keepasspass2.png]] Generate your password or passphrase, I recommend a good passphrase as much as possible. ![[Keepasspass10.png]] Click the download button to try and grab the icon ![[keepasspass3.png]] Click OK, And you're done! your first password is created, you can create as many as you like ![[keepasspass4.png]] ## Getting your passwords These buttons here represent from left to right, - Copy user name (Ctrl+B) , Copies your username to clipboard - Copy Password (Ctrl+C), Copies your password to clipboard - Copy URL (Ctrl+U), Copies the URL to clipboard - Auto Type (Ctrl+Shift+V) Automatically types your credentials into the last selected password field ![[Pasted image 20230726010316.png]] Use these buttons, or the hot keys to grab the keys out and use them to log into what you desire, be that your email, online games etc. Noting that autotype doesn't always work. You can make your life a little bit easier with the keepass plugins you can download from their [website](https://keepassxc.org/docs/KeePassXC_GettingStarted#_install_the_browser_extension). I personally don't use it. ## Backup your database This password vault now has your keys to the kingdom in it, so you need to make sure you keep a copy of this somewhere protected - I would recommend a cloud storage platform like drop box. ![[KeepassBackup.png]] ## Other Resources If you're looking to teach your kids the importance of password security, I have written a book called [[Amelia's Adventure - The Secret World of Password Power]] - you may download it from the bottom of the page for viewing on any smart device or computer. I also have other tips on how to [[Secure your family]] which includes advice for parents, teenagers and pre-teens alike. As well as Amelia's other adventures. ### Links https://keepassxc.org/docs/KeePassXC_GettingStarted