History of Password manager in Timeline

A password manager is a software application designed to alleviate password fatigue by automatically generating, storing, and autofilling passwords for various applications and websites. These can be for local applications or web applications. Web browsers often include built-in password management features. Typically, users only need to remember a single master password to unlock access to their entire password vault. Many password managers also support multi-factor authentication for enhanced security.

September 5, 1997: Password Safe Release

On September 5, 1997, Bruce Schneier released Password Safe, the first password manager software, as a free utility. It was designed for Microsoft Windows 95 and used the Blowfish algorithm for encryption. Due to U.S. export restrictions on cryptography, initial downloads were limited to U.S. and Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

2014: Carnegie Mellon University Password Manager Vulnerabilities Study

In 2014, a paper by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that some password managers insecurely filled passwords for unencrypted HTTP versions of saved passwords for encrypted HTTPS sites. Additionally, most managers lacked protection against iframe and redirection-based attacks, potentially exposing passwords when synchronization was used across multiple devices.

2021: Kaspersky Password Manager Flaw

In 2021, a flaw in the password generation method of Kaspersky Password Manager resulted in predictable passwords, underscoring the risk of using weak random "seed" generation in password managers.

2022: LastPass Security Incident

In 2022, a security incident involving LastPass highlighted the vulnerability of cloud-based password managers. Such breaches can potentially expose a large number of user credentials to attackers.