[Tooling] Managing passwords, open ssh and scp connection with Keepass, Kitty, WinSCP and Firefox/Chrome

In this post I want to show you a very nice technology stack, which can be used to manage your passwords in Keepass, connect it to your web browser and make it possible to open ssh and scp connections easily. It is also possible to access the password from your mobile device, without relying to cloud password providers.

Use Keepass in your Browser

  1. First of all you should install Keepass 2 professional, which can be found here.
  2. Then you copy the http plugin to the Keepass folder
  3. Create a Keepass database and secure it with a Password + Key
  4. Install Keefox or ChromelPass
  5. Connect browser plugin

You can now save your new accounts in your password database and map the (existing) entries to web pages, by setting up the URL  (Edit Entry), which are filled automatically in your browser.

Use Keepass to connect via SSH

Even better as a developer, you can also use putty or kitty to connect with a single click to your servers. To do so you can use URL Overrides in Keepass.

  1. Install/Download Kitty
  2. In Keepass go to URL Override: Tools->Options->Integration
  3. Add a new Override e.g. kitty:
  4. Use this rule: cmd://”PATH_TO_KITTY/kitty_portable.exe” -ssh {USERNAME}@{URL:RMVSCM}: -l {USERNAME} -pw {PASSWORD}
  5. Map an Keepass entry to a ssh connection by specifying the URL like this: kitty://192.168.0.1
  6. Press CTRL + U on any entry to connect via SSH or open the URL in browser

Configure kitty to use WinSCP

  1. Install WinSCP
  2. Configure the WinSCPPath in kitty.ini: WinSCPPath=\\PATH_TO\WinSCP.exe
  3. Open a kitty connection
  4. Right click on the Windows and select StartWinSCP
  5. Enjoy!

Using the password store on you android phone

  1. Install Keepass2Android on your phone
  2. Share your database through some cloud provider  like dropbox (NOT THE KEYFILE!)
  3. Put your keyfile on the phone manually
  4. Never forget to close your database!

Be careful:

  • Using a password database makes your life easier, but remember how powerful this database is
  • Use a strong password for your database and use an additional keyfile (keep your keyfile local)
  • Use Password References for SSH connections, if you have an LDAP/master password, so you don´t need to change everything once you change the master password

 

 

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