Comments on

Walt Sent Me

Original entry posted: Tue Jul 5 19:07:27 2011

Brinstar @ Tue Jul 5 21:05:26 2011 EST

I'm not as keen on Dropbox after all the recent hoopla about privacy issues, but given that Dropbox has a lot of mobile support/apps (I use KeePass on my Android phone + my iPad), I haven't been able to find something better than using Dropbox to hold my encrypted password database, short of shelling out for a password management provider like 1Password or LastPass. :-( Though as an aside, a web-based password management app would be perfect for my Chrome notebook, on which I can't get to my Dropbox-hosted password database.

There is a bit of time investment when someone starts using a password management system, but I definitely feel more secure knowing that every single forum I use has a different password. In my industry, forum database compromises happen so often and oftentimes forum admins for big gaming fansites are just volunteers who really don't know how to secure their site very well. Coupled with the fact that game account theft has been on the rise for a while, and that many gamers use the same account credentials on third party/fan websites as they do for the actual game, a lot of people are vulnerable.

Thomas @ Wed Jul 6 10:18:20 2011 EST

I'm probably being too harsh on Dropbox--I can see where, when someone has multiple devices like you do (especially ones without a real filesystem), it's probably the best option. I did think about similar services like SugarSync, but the USB solution seems to be working so far.

I really think ideally, password management needs to be built into the operating system in a standard, interchangeable way. I'm surprised that Google hasn't done something like that for ChromeOS. But on the other hand, if I were given a choice between strong passwords I can't remember or weak passwords paired with 2-factor auth like Google has for their services now, I'd take the latter every time.

Someone should really start an education campaign for gamers, or make a game-themed password manager. Like you say, it's a target rich environment for scammers, and it'll get even more dangerous as more games go free-to-play with in-game purchases.

Aw, crap. The irony of writing all this while staring at the Worst. Comment protection. Ever. is kind of killing me.



Pollxn Discussion Engine