Password manager to easily share passwords with family
May 20, 2022 2:29 AM Subscribe
I need to share a list of passwords with members of my family. I want to set it up so that they can access the passwords if I'm out of contact for some reason. These passwords are for my father's accounts, his computer literacy is limited.
I tried putting the passwords in a Keepass database and putting that on a shared GDriver folder that they have access to, but I'm worried that the fact that they'll have to install the Keepass software will be a stumbling block.
Is there a cloud-based password manager that will work in a browser, and all they need is the password to access it? Or is that too risky / hackable?
Also - what is the safest way to share the password to the password manager with family members? Whatsapp? Email? They want me to write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere :(
Is there a cloud-based password manager that will work in a browser, and all they need is the password to access it? Or is that too risky / hackable?
Also - what is the safest way to share the password to the password manager with family members? Whatsapp? Email? They want me to write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere :(
Best answer: what is the safest way to share the password to the password manager with family members? Whatsapp? Email?
Any attempt to publish a secret online is going to result in a chicken-and-egg problem concerning distribution of the secret you use to protect the online secret. But if you've already solved that problem with something like an end-to-end encrypted Whatsapp or Keybase chat group, then distributing passwords over it isn't completely unsound.
Email is completely unsound.
They want me to write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere :(
As long as the "somewhere" is well known to you and to them and not known to anybody else, and as long as the piece of paper has got only a bare, unadorned passphrase on it (preferably randomly generated and in a reliably transcribable format like ctcuq.fwevb.ukxox.onpzg.vcacj) so that there's nothing anywhere near it to link it with the password management service it applies to, this is actually not a bad option. You could even give each family member their own copy to keep in their own wallet.
The approach I would personally favour in your circumstances is shameless use of emotional blackmail around concerns over my father's health to manipulate and browbeat the family members concerned into installing KeePassXC and learning to use it diligently and daily as a matter of regular practice for their own online safety, but I'm kind of a prick that way.
Installing an application isn't notably more difficult than installing a browser extension, for people who don't regularly do either. If you've already got a well-established shared Google drive for the family, perhaps you could post a link to the KeePassXC downloads page alongside your passwords database?
If the shared Google drive is also a new thing, I'd recommend distributing the shared KeePass database file as an email attachment instead. I have far more confidence in the strength of KDBXv4 encryption than I do in the ability of people facing a moment of crisis to remember where to find an important file that somebody stuck up online somewhere. If it's not super easy to find the passwords database, they will write themselves notes about exactly where to do that and those notes will include the applicable master password. People who suck at security really suck at security.
posted by flabdablet at 3:49 AM on May 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
Any attempt to publish a secret online is going to result in a chicken-and-egg problem concerning distribution of the secret you use to protect the online secret. But if you've already solved that problem with something like an end-to-end encrypted Whatsapp or Keybase chat group, then distributing passwords over it isn't completely unsound.
Email is completely unsound.
They want me to write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere :(
As long as the "somewhere" is well known to you and to them and not known to anybody else, and as long as the piece of paper has got only a bare, unadorned passphrase on it (preferably randomly generated and in a reliably transcribable format like ctcuq.fwevb.ukxox.onpzg.vcacj) so that there's nothing anywhere near it to link it with the password management service it applies to, this is actually not a bad option. You could even give each family member their own copy to keep in their own wallet.
The approach I would personally favour in your circumstances is shameless use of emotional blackmail around concerns over my father's health to manipulate and browbeat the family members concerned into installing KeePassXC and learning to use it diligently and daily as a matter of regular practice for their own online safety, but I'm kind of a prick that way.
Installing an application isn't notably more difficult than installing a browser extension, for people who don't regularly do either. If you've already got a well-established shared Google drive for the family, perhaps you could post a link to the KeePassXC downloads page alongside your passwords database?
If the shared Google drive is also a new thing, I'd recommend distributing the shared KeePass database file as an email attachment instead. I have far more confidence in the strength of KDBXv4 encryption than I do in the ability of people facing a moment of crisis to remember where to find an important file that somebody stuck up online somewhere. If it's not super easy to find the passwords database, they will write themselves notes about exactly where to do that and those notes will include the applicable master password. People who suck at security really suck at security.
posted by flabdablet at 3:49 AM on May 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
Can you write down a password using clues?
DavidPooper334 - Auntie’s ex husband’s name + what Dad called the dog + address of mom and dad’s first house.
MangiaShoes27 - How grandma said “eat” in her native language + what Billy threw off the balcony + age mom was when Teddy was born.
Springfield37272 - Name of the town grandpa was born in + number of kids Birdie has + end of our childhood phone number
(For added security, Billy, Teddy and Birdie could be family nicknames for specific relatives that an outsider wouldn’t know).
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:42 AM on May 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
DavidPooper334 - Auntie’s ex husband’s name + what Dad called the dog + address of mom and dad’s first house.
MangiaShoes27 - How grandma said “eat” in her native language + what Billy threw off the balcony + age mom was when Teddy was born.
Springfield37272 - Name of the town grandpa was born in + number of kids Birdie has + end of our childhood phone number
(For added security, Billy, Teddy and Birdie could be family nicknames for specific relatives that an outsider wouldn’t know).
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:42 AM on May 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
For the last part the piece of paper makes perfect sense. In your shoes I would put a cheap paperback book in a safe deposit box and write the password in the book. Easy to explain where it is, non-technical, if you change it you cross it out and write in the new one.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:10 AM on May 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 6:10 AM on May 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
This is easy! Sign up for 1Password Families. (Currently $30 a year for 5 people.) Everyone gets a private vault for private passwords. And you can also create shared vaults for shared passwords. 1Password does a great job of integrating with your browser, phone, etc so logging in to things is much easier.
posted by Nelson at 6:20 AM on May 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 6:20 AM on May 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
While we use 1Password, because my partner is a belt-and-suspenders type of person, what we do every so often is to print out the entire database and then store that copy in our safe-deposit box. If we get hit by a bus, family members can (eventually) get into the box and get our passwords to take care of things.
posted by telophase at 8:10 AM on May 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by telophase at 8:10 AM on May 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Forgot to add: we've got 1Password Families, but only my mom is on it with us (primarily so if she gets hit by a bus we can get into her financial stuff and take care of it, as she's given us permission to do). The extended family is just going to have to put up with the safe-deposit box.
posted by telophase at 8:12 AM on May 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by telophase at 8:12 AM on May 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
My wife and my immediate family also use 1Password for families. One of its features is a "recovery kit," a PDF you can print out and stick in a safe that will let other people access your records.
posted by adamrice at 8:30 AM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by adamrice at 8:30 AM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
A password manager with “emergency contact” function will do this. Basically, someone asks to access your passwords and if you don’t say no within a certain amount of time, they get access. Dashlane used to have this but removed it. They say they will have it again after fixing something-or-other about it. Bitwarden does have it. They will need to create a Bitwarden account (same was (and presumably will again be) true for Dashlane) but I think it’s easier than KeePass. It looks like Bitwarden also has a Safari extension and web access. Some of the other password managers people have mentioned may do the same.
N’thing that writing the master password down on paper is ok as long (1) there is no context with the note and (2) they will not lose the paper. Safe deposit box is a reasonable idea as long as the people who will need this have access to the box. Do not send it over email.
The problem with written copies of anything except the master password is that the collection of accounts and passwords will change over time, though perhaps the most important ones will remain constant.
Also, if you (or the other family members) can get into your father’s email and phone, you/they can likely reset passwords if needed.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:05 PM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
N’thing that writing the master password down on paper is ok as long (1) there is no context with the note and (2) they will not lose the paper. Safe deposit box is a reasonable idea as long as the people who will need this have access to the box. Do not send it over email.
The problem with written copies of anything except the master password is that the collection of accounts and passwords will change over time, though perhaps the most important ones will remain constant.
Also, if you (or the other family members) can get into your father’s email and phone, you/they can likely reset passwords if needed.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:05 PM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
In my (technologically literate) family we use paper. Why get fancy?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:22 PM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:22 PM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by pyro979 at 2:53 AM on May 20, 2022 [5 favorites]