What Is A Password Manager?

Date First Published: 31st October 2023

Topic: Cybersecurity

Subtopic: Security Mechanisms & Technologies

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 4/10

CONTENTS

How Does A Password Manager Work?
SaaS Pricing

Learn about what a password manager is in this article.

A password manager is a software program that allows users to create, save, and manage passwords across different websites, services, and apps. One master password is used to unlock access to the password manager, which may also be secured with two-factor authentication. Passwords are stored in a database, which are highly encrypted.

Password managers also come with additional features, like breach notifications, which notify users if their password has been involved in a known data breach, and a password health check, which evaluates the strength of passwords.

How Does A Password Manager Work?

When a user first uses a password manager, they will be asked to create a strong master password. Once the master password has been created, the password manager will securely store the user's other passwords.

At first, if the user has not previously created a username and password for a website, the password manager may prompt the user to create a randomised and unique password. Once that has been entered, the password manager asks the user to securely store the information in a password manager. The next time the user visits the website, the password manager automatically fills in the previously saved information.

Some password managers keep secure passwords locally on a device, whilst others keep it in cloud storage and can be synchronised across multiple devices. Some web browsers, such as Google Chrome include built-in password managers, which save passwords to the Chrome web browser or the user's Google account.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Password Managers

The advantages of password managers are:

It helps people remember complex passwords for different electronic accounts since only one password needs to be remembered to gain access to the list of passwords. This is more secure than keeping passwords in a text file or writing them down on paper where they could be read by someone else.
Passwords can be completely randomised, helping users to create new, unique passwords for each electronic account and minimising the chances of reusing passwords.
They are flexible. Most password managers allow usernames and passwords to be synchronised across multiple devices, including desktop computers and mobile devices.
Log in screens can be automatically filled in with the correct credentials, saving time.

The disadvantages of password managers are:

If the main password gets stolen (e.g. by guessing or a keylogger), they will have access to every other password. This is why it is important to have extra layers of security for password managers, such as two-factor authentication.
If the master password is lost, users could lose access to all their passwords with no way of recovering them. This is because master passwords usually have no password reset mechanism.
Not all websites are compatible with the autofill password manager technologies.

History

Password Safe created by Bruce Schneier was the first password manager software designed to securely store passwords. It was designed for Microsoft Windows 95 and was released as a free utility on 5th September 1997.