Password Managers Security Tips
Password Managers Security Tips
Anas Danial, Mohd Fadzil Abdul Kadir, Ahmad Faisal Amri Abidin, Mohamad Afendee
Mohamed, Nazirah Abdul Hamid, Siti Dhalila Mohd Satar
Faculty of Informatics and Computing, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Besut Campus, Malaysia
[email protected]
Abstract: Password managers are crucial tools for securely storing and managing multiple
passwords. However, they can become targets for attackers attempting to gain unauthorized
access to sensitive user data. In this paper, we propose an approach to password manager security
by combining the Honey Encryption algorithm with the Honeypot technique. By implementing
Honey Encryption on the authorization process of the password manager, we can effectively divert
attackers to a honeypot, which contains a list of fake/honeyword passwords. The honeypot is
designed to be high interaction, allowing us to gather valuable information about the attacker, such
as their IP address and MAC address. This information can be crucial for further analysis and taking
appropriate actions to mitigate the security breach. Our proposed system provides an additional
layer of security to password managers, making them more robust against unauthorized access
attempts.
1. INTRODUCTION
In today's digital age, the security of password managers is of paramount importance as they play a vital
role in securely storing and managing the ever-increasing number of passwords [1][2]. Password managers
alleviate the burden of remembering multiple complex passwords and provide a centralized solution for
users to protect their sensitive login information. However, the persistent threat of brute force attacks poses
a significant challenge to the security of password managers, necessitating robust countermeasures [3].
Existing research has focused on various aspects of password manager security, including encryption
algorithms, secure storage mechanisms, and authentication protocols [4][5]. While these measures provide
a certain level of protection, they often fall short in addressing the vulnerability associated with guessing the
master password [6]. Attackers can exploit the limited entropy of human-generated passwords and launch
brute force attacks to gain unauthorized access to the password manager system [7].
To bridge this gap and enhance password manager security, this research paper proposes a novel approach
that combines the high interaction honeypot technique with the honey encryption algorithm. The high
interaction honeypot technique involves the creation of a decoy password manager that emulates the
functionality of a legitimate password manager, increasing the complexity for attackers attempting to
compromise the system [8]. This approach complements the honey encryption algorithm, which generates
decoy passwords that closely resemble real passwords, further confounding attackers' attempts to guess
the master password [9]. The primary objective of this research is to mitigate the risk of brute force attacks
on password manager security by implementing the proposed high interaction honeypot technique and
honey encryption algorithm. By redirecting attackers to the decoy password manager and presenting them
with decoy passwords, the system aims to impede their efforts to guess the master password and gain
unauthorized access.
To lay the foundation for this research, we will first provide an overview of the background of password
manager security, highlighting the vulnerabilities associated with brute force attacks [6][10]. We will then
delve into a detailed analysis of the honey encryption algorithm and the high interaction honeypot technique,
elucidating their principles and evaluating their effectiveness in preventing unauthorized access
[8][9][11][12]. Additionally, we will describe the implementation of the high interaction honeypot technique to
create the decoy password manager, along with the strategies employed to engage and deceive attackers,
1
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
thereby providing valuable intelligence for analyzing and mitigating potential security threats [13]. By
addressing the identified gaps in password manager security, this research aims to contribute valuable
insights and practical solutions to strengthen the resilience of password managers and protect users'
sensitive information from brute force attacks. The findings of this research will facilitate the advancement
of password manager security and lay the groundwork for further exploration and enhancement in this critical
domain.
2. RELATED WORKS
2
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Honey encryption provides a high level of message recovery security. To illustrate its functioning, let's
consider the example of encrypting soft drink flavors: Apple, Mango, and Orange. Each flavor is encoded
as a two-bit string, such as {00, 01, 10, 11}. For instance, if Bob wants to encrypt his favorite soft drink flavor,
Mango (encoded as 01), to be sent to Alice under the shared secret key X = 0000, Bob employs a DTE
mapping (Figure 1) to convert Mango into the corresponding 2-bit value. Bob selects a random string R and
computes S' = H(R, X), assuming S' = (R, 0000) = 11. Then, Bob calculates C = 11 ⊕ 01 = 10, which is
forwarded to Alice. Alice decrypts C using the shared key X = 0000. So, S' = H(R, 0000) = 11, and S = C ⊕
S' = 10 ⊕ 11 = 01. By decoding 01, Alice successfully recovers the message as Mango. In the case of an
attacker, Eve, attempting to decrypt the message without knowing the key, they might assume a key, such
as 1432, resulting in H = (R, 1432) = 00. Consequently, S'' = C ⊕ S' = 10. Upon decoding, Eve would obtain
decode(10) = Orange, thus illustrating the effectiveness of this new type of encryption in deceiving attackers.
In this example, the message "apple" (with pm = 1/4) maps to 00, "mango" (with pm = 1/4) maps to
01, and "orange" (with pm = 1/2) maps to {10, 11}, where pm represents the probability distribution over the
message space.
3
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
robust sanitization mechanisms, password managers can effectively safeguard user credentials and thwart
attackers from extracting valuable information from the honeypot environment.
3. METHODOLOGY
The methodology employed in this research paper revolves around the systematic implementation and
evaluation of the proposed system framework, as depicted in the diagram. The first step involves the
registration process, where users create an account by providing their email and master password. To
enhance the security of the master password, honey encryption (DTE) is applied, resulting in an encrypted
form that protects against brute force attacks. Once the honey-encrypted master password is generated, it
is securely stored in the database along with the cipher key and trueSeed. Additionally, recovery keys are
generated and provided to users as a means of account recovery in case of password loss or forgetfulness.
This setup ensures the confidentiality and integrity of users' master passwords.
The subsequent stage focuses on user authentication during the login process. The master password
entered by the user at the login screen is checked against the stored encrypted master password in the
database. If the authentication is successful, the user is granted access to the real password manager,
where they can securely store their website names, usernames, and passwords. In the event of
unsuccessful authentication, the system provides the user with a limited number of login attempts. If the
user fails to authenticate within the allowed attempts, they are redirected to the honeypot Password
Manager. This decoy password manager, designed to mimic the real password manager, presents the
unauthenticated user with the same website names and usernames they entered. However, the passwords
4
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
are replaced with decoy passwords generated from a list of common password combinations. This diversion
tactic aims to confuse attackers attempting to gain unauthorized access.
To detect and alert the real/authenticated user of potential security breaches, an intriguing reveal
button is integrated into the honeypot Password Manager. When an unauthenticated user attempts to reveal
the password for a specific website, their IP address, MAC address, the master password they entered, and
the website name are captured. This information is then utilized to send an email notification to the
real/authenticated user, effectively informing them of the attempted breach on their password manager
account. The methodology also involves evaluating the effectiveness of the system framework.
Authentication success rates and the redirection to the honeypot Password Manager are analyzed to
measure the system's ability to mitigate brute force attacks. Additionally, the information captured from the
reveal button and the alert system provides valuable insights into potential security threats, aiding in the
identification and mitigation of vulnerabilities. By following this methodology, this research aims to
demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of integrating honey encryption, honeypot techniques, and
an alert system within the password manager framework (Figure 2). The results and discussions derived
from this study provide valuable insights into enhancing password manager security, preventing brute force
attacks, and safeguarding users' sensitive information.
Figure 2 System Framework: Password Manager Security using Honey Encryption Algorithm
and Honeypot Technique
4. IMPLEMENTATION
Function: asciiCode(password)
password_integer = Convert password characters to ASCII code
return password_integer
Function: randomSeed(password_length)
5
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
min_seed = 10 ^ (password_length - 1)
max_seed = (10 ^ password_length) - 1
trueSeed = Generate random integer within range [min_seed, max_seed]
return trueSeed
Function: honeyEncryption(masterPassword)
password_integer = asciiCode(masterPassword)
password_length = length of password_integer
trueSeed = randomSeed(password_length)
cipher = password_integer XOR trueSeed
return trueSeed, cipher
Function: checkPassword()
attempts = 0
match = getMasterPassword()
Retrieve trueSeed and cipher from the database
m = trueSeed XOR cipher # Decrypt honey encryption
honeychecker = m - check_pass
If honeychecker == 0:
Redirect to real password manager
Else if -16384 <= honeychecker <= 16384:
Redirect to fake password manager
Else:
Increment attempts by 1
If attempts < 5:
Display error message indicating incorrect password (5 - attempts) times remaining
Clear password entry field (txt.delete(0, END))
Else:
Redirect to fake password manager
Function: generate_honeyword(password)
check_pass = asciiCode(password)
If -16384 <= honeychecker <= 16384:
Select random common password from list as honeyword
Else:
Use different random number generator
Select random common password from list as honeyword
return honeyword
The implemented algorithm utilizes honey encryption to enhance password security. It involves
converting the master password into ASCII code and generating a random trueSeed within a specific range.
The trueSeed and the ASCII code are combined using XOR to create a cipher. During authentication, the
user-entered password is decrypted by XORing it with the trueSeed and comparing it with the original ASCII
code. If the difference falls within a specified range, the user is directed to the fake password manager. A
zero difference indicates a correct password, leading to the real password manager. Failed attempts
exceeding five redirect the user to the fake manager. The algorithm also generates honeywords based on
the difference, adding authenticity to the fake manager. Overall, this algorithm strengthens password
security by confusing attackers while providing legitimate password management functionality.
6
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
users. When an unauthorized user interacts with the decoy password manager, various details are recorded,
including their IP address, MAC address, and the master password they attempted to use.
Additionally, if an unauthorized user attempts to reveal the password for a particular website within the
decoy password manager, this action triggers the capture of specific information. The captured data includes
the IP address and MAC address of the unauthorized user, the master password they entered, and the
website name they were trying to access. To ensure the real/authenticated user is promptly alerted about
any unauthorized access attempts, the high interaction honeypot implementation incorporates an email alert
feature as shown in Figure 3. When unauthorized activity is detected, an email is automatically generated
and sent to the real/authenticated user. The email contains detailed information, such as the captured IP
address, MAC address, the master password entered by the unauthorized user, and the website name they
were trying to access. This email serves as an immediate notification and informs/alerts the
real/authenticated user about the breach attempt, enabling them to take necessary action to protect their
account.
By combining the generation of fake passwords, capturing detailed information, and sending email
alerts, the high interaction honeypot implementation provides a comprehensive security solution. It not only
deceives attackers and captures their actions but also ensures that real/authenticated users are promptly
informed about any unauthorized access attempts, enhancing the overall security and protection of the
password manager system.
In this section, we present the results of our high interaction honeypot implementation and discuss
their implications for enhancing the security of password managers. Through a series of experiments, we
evaluated the effectiveness of our approach, focusing on the time taken to open the real password manager
compared to the decoy password manager. We also captured critical information during the authentication
process and successfully generated email alerts to notify the legitimate user of potential unauthorized
access attempts.
Figure 4 User Interfaces of the Real Password Manager Displaying Authentic Information
7
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 5 User Interfaces of the decoy Password Manager displaying fake/honeyword password
The Figures 4 and 5 represent the user interfaces of both the real password manager and the decoy
password manager respectively, showcasing their visual similarity. This visual deception is a crucial aspect
of our approach, as it aims to make it challenging for attackers to distinguish between the real and decoy
interfaces. To assess the performance of our implementation, we measured the time taken to open the
password vault in ten consecutive attempts. The results demonstrate that there is only a slight difference in
response times between the real password manager and the decoy password manager. The real password
manager consistently exhibits marginally faster response times compared to the decoy password manager.
This indicates that legitimate users can access their password vault with minimal delay, while potential
attackers attempting to access the decoy password manager experience only a slight delay due to the
additional layers of security measures. We graphed the recorded times to provide a clear visualization of
the performance difference between the real and decoy password managers on Figure 6. The graph shows
that the response times of the real password manager consistently remain slightly lower than those of the
decoy password manager. This confirms the successful diversion of unauthorized access attempts and
reinforces the viability of our approach.
Figure 6 Comparison of Time Taken to Open Real Password Manager and Decoy Password Manager
8
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Furthermore, we successfully captured crucial information during the authentication process, including
the IP address, MAC address, attempted password, and website name. This captured information was
utilized to generate an email alert system, which automatically notifies the legitimate user when an
unauthorized access attempt is detected. The Figure 6 showcases the captured information, providing
valuable insights for the user to take appropriate action and strengthen the security of their password
manager account.
Our high interaction honeypot implementation effectively deters unauthorized access attempts while
minimizing inconvenience for legitimate users. The slight difference in response times between the real and
decoy password managers demonstrates seamless integration and usability. By leveraging visual deception,
performance differences, and email alerts, our approach enhances password manager security, making
them more resilient to credential theft. This proactive measure contributes to advancing password manager
security and provides a practical solution for real-world implementation. The success of our project
reinforces the usability and effectiveness of high interaction honeypots in protecting user credentials and
empowering users to respond to security threats. With further refinement, this approach can greatly enhance
password management system security.
6. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a comprehensive exploration of password manager security, focusing on the
integration of honey encryption and high interaction honeypots. Honey encryption offers a robust method
for protecting master passwords by leveraging encryption and randomization techniques. This approach
enhances the security of password storage and retrieval, making it significantly harder for attackers to obtain
sensitive information. Furthermore, the implementation of a high interaction honeypot adds an additional
layer of defense, effectively deterring unauthorized access attempts and gathering valuable intelligence on
potential attackers. The combination of honey encryption and high interaction honeypots has proven
successful in our experiments, demonstrating their usability, effectiveness, and minimal impact on legitimate
users. By seamlessly integrating these techniques into existing password manager systems, we enhance
the overall security posture and resilience against credential theft. Our research contributes to the
advancement of password manager security and provides a practical solution for safeguarding user
credentials in real-world scenarios. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, the adoption of honey
encryption and high interaction honeypots holds great promise in mitigating the risks associated with
password management and enhancing the overall security of user accounts.
References
[1] Cheswick, W. R., Bellovin, S. M., & Rubin, A. D. (2003). Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the
Wily Hacker. Addison-Wesley Professional.
[2] Florencio, D., & Herley, C. (2007). A large-scale study of web password habits. Proceedings of the
16th International Conference on World Wide Web, 657-666. DOI:10.1145/1242572.1242661
9
MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[3] Bonneau, J., Herley, C., van Oorschot, P. C., & Stajano, F. (2012). The quest to replace passwords: A
framework for comparative evaluation of web authentication schemes. Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE
Symposium on Security and Privacy, 553-567. DOI:10.1109/SP.2012.44
[4] Luevanos, Carlos & Elizarraras, John & Hirschi, Khai & Yeh, Jyh-haw. (2017). Analysis on the Security
and Use of Password Managers. 17-24. DOI:10.1109/PDCAT.2017.00013
[5] Raza, Mudassar & Iqbal, Muhammad & Sharif, Muhammad & Haider, Waqas. (2012). A Survey of
Password Attacks and Comparative Analysis on Methods for Secure Authentication. World Applied
Sciences Journal. 19. 439-444. DOI:10.5829/idosi.wasj.2012.19.04.1837
[6] Cheng, H., Li, W., Wang, P., Chu, C. H., & Liang, K. (2021). Incrementally Updateable Honey Password
Vaults. In USENIX Security Symposium (pp. 857-874).
[7] Alkhwaja, I., Albugami, M., Alkhwaja, A., Alghamdi, M., Abahussain, H., Alfawaz, F., Almurayh, A., &
Min-Allah, N. (2023). Password Cracking with Brute Force Algorithm and Dictionary Attack Using
Parallel Programming. Applied Sciences, 13(10), 5979. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13105979
[8] Furfaro, A., Lupia, F., & Saccà, D. (2020). Gathering Malware Data through High-Interaction
Honeypots. In SEBD (pp. 286-293).
[9] Juels, A., & Ristenpart, T. (2014). Honey encryption: Security beyond the brute-force bound.
Communications of the ACM, 57(2), 95-103. DOI:10.1007/978-3-642-55220-5_17
[10] Carr, M., & Shahandashti, S. F. (2020). Revisiting security vulnerabilities in commercial password
managers. In ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection: 35th IFIP TC 11 International Conference,
SEC 2020, Maribor, Slovenia, September 21–23, 2020, Proceedings 35 (pp. 265-279).
[11] Juels, A., & Jakobsson, M. (1999). Honeywords: Making password-cracking detectable. In
Proceedings of the 2013 ACM SIGSAC conference on Computer & communications security (pp. 145-
160).
[12] Abadi, M., Budiu, M., Erlingsson, Ú., & Ligatti, J. (2010). Control-flow integrity: Principles,
implementations, and applications. ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC),
13(1), 4.
[13] Mell, P., & Grance, T. (2011). The NIST definition of cloud computing. NIST Special Publication,
800(145).
[14] Chiasson, S., Forget, A., Biddle, R., & van Oorschot, P. C. (2008). Influencing users towards better
passwords: Persuasive cued click-points. Proceedings of the 2008 Symposium on Usable Privacy and
Security, 1-12. DOI:10.1145/1531514.1531531
[15] Noorunnisa, Nahri & Siddiqui, Rahat. (2016). Review on Honey Encryption Technique. International
Journal of Science and Research (IJSR). 5. 1683-1686.
[16] Spitzner, L. (2002). Honeypots: Tracking Hackers. Addison-Wesley Professional, 480.
[17] Webster, A. (2018). An application of jeeves for honeypot sanitization.
[18] Bošnjak, L., Sreš, J., & Brumen, B. (2018). Brute-force and dictionary attack on hashed real-world
passwords. In 2018 41st international convention on information and communication technology,
electronics and microelectronics (mipro) (pp. 1161-1166).
[19] Han, W., Li, Z., Ni, M., Gu, G., & Xu, W. (2016). Shadow attacks based on password reuses: a
quantitative empirical analysis. IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, 15(2), 309-
320.
[20] Najafabadi, M. M., Khoshgoftaar, T. M., Kemp, C., Seliya, N., & Zuech, R. (2014). Machine learning for
detecting brute force attacks at the network level. In 2014 IEEE International Conference on
Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (pp. 379-385). IEEE.
10