PasswordBox.com Free Password Manager

CNET Editors' review

by: Tuong Nguyen on March 04, 2013

PasswordBox keeps all of your online passwords in one convenient location accessible from any computer. This application is slowly becoming a preferred tool around the office known for decreasing log-in time increasing time spent on Facebook and Tumblr.

The installation file will you set you up with the PasswordBox add-ons for popular browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE. It runs from within the browser environment and works the same way across the board. PasswordBox is still in beta, and the setup is one way to make an account.

Essentially a vault for all of your online passwords, PasswordBox sets itself apart from competitors with some innovative security features. To access your PasswordBox account you would need a Master Key that only you would know. Keys are placed under "Government-Level" encryption on the client side (your PC) before being sent off to PasswordBox. If your data is ever compromised, the thief would have no way of accessing it since PasswordBox would not have the needed decryption key. Unfortunately, that also means that should you ever lose your Master Key, there would be no way to retrieve it. Great for all of you conspiracy theorists out there who want to keep your plans top secret.

After creating an account, you would proceed to either manually enter all your online handles(Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) and passwords into the extension or let PasswordBox keep tracks of what you log in through normal use. Following this initial setup, the process of logging into your online life is reduced to a couple of clicks. Clicking on a Facebook account on PasswordBox extension or set homepage will have it log you in and take you to the main page of Facebook without having to touch a keyboard. You can also set sharing of passwords to coworkers and project collaborators for community aliases.

The Legacy feature allows you to designate someone to inherit your passwords and account in case of a life-changing event. The inheriting user would need a PasswordBox account if he did not already have one. Methods of this process is not yet clear, but it is promised to be extensive; PasswordBox requires official documents such as a death certificate to release any information. Unfortunately we could not test out this feature as it requires an editor faking his own death.

If you maintain a large online presence with many usernames, or are just annoyed of keeping track of multiple passwords and want a simpler option, PasswordBox may be a solution.