Password management: syncing some passwords but not all
March 20, 2012 1:02 PM   Subscribe

Please help me find the password management solution I'm hoping exists: the ability to automatically, dynamically sync a specific folder of passwords between accounts w/o involving Dropbox.

Short version: what do businesses use so that people can store both personal and shared passwords in one place, and sync the shared passwords?

Longer version:
I'm a tech person at my organization, and I need a password management system that allows both:
a) two other people to access certain work passwords (in case I'm out sick, die, etc.) that are frequently created (e.g. new CMS site admin accounts)
b) me accessing those work passwords in the same interface as other, private passwords (e.g. email, my personal account for x work website) that are not to be shared with others

Currently, I have a personal Lastpass account and a work Lastpass account; the password for the work Lastpass account is shared with those two other people, and the work Lastpass account contains only those passwords I want to share.

Problem with this: I need to be logged into my personal account so I can access those personal passwords, which means remembering to manually share out every password that should also be accessible from the work Lastpass account. I often forget to do this, and the two accounts end up not containing the same work passwords.

I've been Googling various solutions and reading this and this, but haven't seen any that clearly do what I want (and I really don't like the various Dropbox hacks for security reasons). Ideally, I could have a "work" folder inside my personal account that automatically shared out/synced with other people's accounts... or some other set-up that doesn't involve remembering to go through the somewhat inconvenient sharing process Lastpass allows. Bonus points if the solution is either Mac or browser-based.

Thank you for your help.
posted by pavane to Computers & Internet (1 answer total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well, I use Keepassx, which can handle multiple database files. So you can create one for personal accounts and one for work. You can store this on a Linux server or VPS (you can spin up a free one on EC2, even, I think). Then, as long as you and your team have SSH access with X forwarding, you can run Keepassx on the slice and throw the display back to wherever you are. This works natively on Ubuntu, works on Mac OS X as long as you have XWindows installed, or works on Windows with Putty and Xming (all free). This works well and meets your requirements.

Putting your keepassx db file on Dropbox is simpler, in that you don't have to do SSH forwarding, even though I understand your concerns about Dropbox's security track record, hopefully the encryption of the password db file is strong.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 4:03 PM on March 20, 2012


« Older Emotions in the mysterious, dark womb.   |   How do I accept my mother's behavior? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.