Password managers

If you sometimes struggle to remember passwords, or if you're ever tempted to re-use a password, a password manager can help.
A password manager can store your usernames and passwords - securely encrypted - and can generate strong random passwords for you. This makes it far easier to have a different strong password for each site you use.

KeePass

DICE has keepassxc on Ubuntu and keepassx2 on SL7. It can save passwords to a local file, which it encrypts securely. On other computers, try KeePassXC.

These can all read and write the same .kdbx password database files, so if you want to access the same password database from several machines - for instance a DICE machine and your home laptop - you can just copy your .kdbx file between them.

To get started (with either program), read the Electronic Frontier Foundation's guide, How to: Use KeePassXC.

• ⇒ How to: Use KeePassXC (eff.org).
  
• ⇒ keepassxc.org/download.

The original KeePass utility has been forked, copied or ported many times over the years. An extensive list of versions can be found on the Keepass download page, including several versions for mobile phones.

• ⇒ List of KeePass ports (keepass.info).

LastPass

The University has a site licence for LastPass, a password management service. Students can have free Premium Accounts, and staff get access to the Enterprise version.
If you use a University-managed Windows machine, you could try LastPass. Watch out, though, because they have been the targets of at least one "security incident" (security breach and data theft) which you can read about on their company blog.

• ⇒ LastPass.
  
• ⇒ LastPass blog: product updates.

Others

Apple devices have a password manager called Apple Keychain. This can share passwords between all devices which use the same Apple ID. If you create an account on a web page while using the Safari browser, it will offer to create a strong password for that account and save it in the Keychain for you.

Further reading

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has helpful advice on personal computer security:

• ⇒ Surveillance Self-Defense (eff.org).