Password manager

Although Password Safe was released as a free utility, due to export restrictions on cryptography from the United States, only U.S. and Canadian citizens and permanent residents were initially allowed to download it.

The security of this approach depends on the strength of the chosen password (which may be guessed through malware), and also that the passphrase itself is never stored locally where a malicious program or individual could read it.

If a device is compromised by malware like Raccoon, which excels at stealing data, the password manager's protections can be nullified.

Clipboard sniffers can capture sensitive information copied from the manager, and some malware might even steal the encrypted password vault file itself.

In essence, a compromised device with password-stealing malware can bypass the security measures of the password manager, leaving the stored credentials vulnerable.

If such an event were to occur, attackers could potentially gain access to a large number of user credentials.

The Trusteer client security software from IBM features explicit options to block password managers.