Proton has released a password manager. Proton Pass is a password manager that can store notes and nicknames as well as credentials and totp codes. The entire store is then encrypted with end-to-end encryption. The feature will first launch in closed beta.
proton The password vault is called Proton Pass. This would be a feature that will be offered within the Proton packages, but the company doesn’t say if a free variant is also available. Users can store passwords and usernames in a password manager, as well as time-based and one-time password notes and notes. In addition, it is possible to save nicknames. This is a feature introduced by Proton last year that allows users to use an alternate email address to hide their original address.
What’s particularly remarkable about a password manager is that the entire vault is encrypted with end-to-end encryption, rather than just the passwords, as is the case with most password managers. It’s hard to say what that means for users in practice. This may slow down the password manager. Additionally, it means storing safes in one place, which can increase the area of attack. According to Proton, this encryption means that an attacker cannot retrieve metadata, such as which sites a user has an account on.
Proton Pass uses bcrypt as the hash algorithm and uses the Secure Remote Password standard for authentication. Bruton writes in a blog post Individual items are also encrypted with an additional key, so that in all cases a potential attacker with the master key cannot retrieve all passwords during a man-in-the-middle attack. The company offers few details about the encryption for now, but says the code will be made open source later. In addition, the password manager is covered by Proton’s bug bounty program.
The service is currently only available as a closed beta. A random number of users is chosen for this. The service should become publicly available later this year. The manager is available for iOS and Android and as a browser extension for Chrome and Chromium browsers. There is currently no extension for Firefox, because Mozilla has not yet approved it, according to Proton.