SANS ISC: Tip: Password Managers and 2FA

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SANS ISC InfoSec Forums

I guess many of you use a password manager.

I do too. And several credentials stored in my password manager also have 2FA, typically based on an algorithm that has to be seeded with a secret key (like the one used by Google Authenticator).

Whenever I have to create a new account with 2FA, I will store the 2FA key in my password manager along with the password for that account. And if the key is presented as a QR code (it often is), I will save that QR image temporarily to disk and include that file in my password manager.

This way, if I lose my device for 2FA authentication (e.g. smartphone), I can get a new device and start again with a fresh 2FA app install.

If you don't like the idea of storing your password together with your 2FA key: use 2 different password managers, one for your passwords and one for your 2FA keys. And use 2 different master passwords :-)

Didier Stevens
Senior handler
Microsoft MVP
blog.DidierStevens.com DidierStevensLabs.com