Locking Down Your Passwords with KeePass

KeePass Password Safe

KeePass is a small but powerful utility that protects lots of data within a small database.

When I was looking for a way to secure my password data, I came across KeePass at sourceforge.net, which is a well-known platform for open source software projects. KeePass is a small, 315 kB security file and easy to use.

It is OSI (Open Source Initiative) certified, too, and does not have to be installed. Thus, there is neither .net framework nor special DLLs to worry about. As a result, it can be easily executed from any location as well.

KeePass uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or the Twofish algorithm in order to encrypt the password database in 128 bit sized increments. In addition to the passwords, the complete database is encrypted; any data you might want to encrypt can be considered reasonably safe.

Access to the KeePass database is granted either with a key-disk (a floppy disk or CD containing the password file) or with a master password.