NordPass Password Manager
Pros
- User-friendly interfaces & easy access from browser
- App-based two-factor authentication is supported
- Audited & secures account with biometrics
- Options for password sharing
- A data breach scanner and a password health report
Cons
- The free version cannot be used on multiple devices at the same time
- There are no features for password inheritance
What is NordPass?
Few people can remember many strong and unique passwords for their various internet accounts. This isn’t a problem because password managers like NordPass are easily available. This service, from the same people who brought you NordVPN, is a simple, straightforward way to securely retrieve your passwords via mobile apps, a web dashboard, or dedicated desktop programs. Over time, it has introduced some noteworthy features, such as a Data Breach Scanner, a password health report and a web vault access. Even more recently, NordPass has added new tools, such as username generator and business name generator to provide more value to its users. NordPass offers all their services at a considerably reasonable cost which may vary a little bit from month to month. Their premium account is available at just $2.49 per month which means, you get your 2 year plan + 1 Free month (25 months) at just $59.76. This is the cheapest plan available as compared to almost all other competitors except Roboform that offers starting from $1.16 per month.
Security of NordPass
To join up for the free version of NordPass, you must first supply an email address, then validate that address with a six-digit number sent by NordPass, and finally create a password. After that, you’ll need to download the extension for your preferred browser.
NordPass works on all platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS and offer web vault, which allows users to login without the need to download the app on any device. NordPass was tested on the Edge browser, on a Windows 10 laptop, and on an Android 11 mobile.
Sign in to the extension and create a master password for your account to finish setting up NordPass. The master password is distinct from your account password; the former serves as a decryption key for your password vault, while the latter is used to log in to your accounts.
Ensure that your master password is both unique and difficult to guess. All of the account credentials saved in your vault will be compromised if someone gets their hands on your master password. At the same time, while NordPass does not keep your master password and cannot help you retrieve it directly, it should be memorable.
During the sign-up process, NordPass does provide a single recovery code that you can use to regain access to your account, so make a note of it as well. If you lose your recovery code or forget your master password, your sole choice is to reset your NordPass account, which deletes everything in your password vault. This is how all no-knowledge services master passwords are handled.
NordPass was subjected to a Cure53 audit. The results are summarized on NordPass’s blog, however the entire paper is not available on Cure53’s site. Bitwarden has also been audited on multiple occasions. More password managers should commit to auditing their passwords on a regular basis.
To protect your account, NordPass offers TOTP-based two-factor authentication through an authenticator app. NordPass just announced support for FIDO-certified U2F security keys, such as those from the YubiKey 5 series. Log in to your Nord Account and go to the Account Security area to set up this security feature.
Features of NordPass
NordPass populates both the username and password fields with a symbol when you see login fields on the web. When you click into a field on a site for which you have credentials saved, a pop-up opens with the option to log in with the relevant account. You can also use the NordPass extension in your browser’s toolbar to view and select credentials from a list of suggested items.
If you don’t have a stored login, simply enter your credentials as usual; once submitted, NordPass will display a message asking if you wish to save those credentials. In my tests, NordPass successfully entered and saved credentials for Google and Eventbrite’s two-page login windows.
Scanner For Data Breaches And Password Health
NordPass received two significant security improvements in the most recent wave of updates: an actionable password health report and a Data Breach Scanner. To utilize them, you must have a Premium plan subscription. Click the Tools icon at the bottom of the web or desktop app to access either function. The Password Health function is really straightforward. It examines all of your saved passwords and notifies you if any of them are weak, repeated, or outdated. If it identifies any offenders, you may navigate to that item in your vault by clicking the Change Password option. Don’t change your password in NordPass; instead, click the link to the associated website in the pop-up message and let NordPass remember your new password the next time you log in.
The Data Breach Scanner analyzes the internet and alerts you if any of your saved credit cards or accounts have been compromised. If it detects any, NordPass notifies you of the site, the date of the breach, the sort of information that has been compromised (such as passwords, names, employers, and phone numbers), and a description of the site. Both of these tools are wonderful additions that are also simple to use. It’s worth noting that they don’t operate indefinitely; you must manually start them each time. Dashlane, Keeper, and LastPass are all similar in functionality.
Inheritance And Password Sharing
To share an item, hover your cursor over it, then select Share from the vertical three-dot menu on the right-hand side. Then type in the email address of a recipient and click Share Item. Anyone can create an account and view goods that have been shared with them, but only premium users can share items. At this time, you are unable to share folders.
There is no option to offer a recipient read-only or view-only access, but a NordPass official explained that this was by design. According to the representative, someone having even read-only access to a NordPass item might hypothetically overrun an account even if they didn’t have edit access to the item itself. Other systems, such as Sticky Password, allow you to specify whether a receiver can only view, completely edit, or delete your password.
For paying subscribers, NordPass has recently implemented a new function called Trusted Contacts. Essentially, this functionality allows you to send and receive an encrypted communication with a contact manually. This, in principle, lowers the risk of a man-in-the-middle assault. On the web or desktop apps, you can create trusted contacts in the advanced area of the settings tab.
One of the recently rolled out features of NordPass is the Web Vault, which allows users to use most of the functionalities on a desktop app, without having to install the application on a device. Alongside it, NordPass added a variety of new tools: its business name generator allows to generate unique and memorable business names; username generator can also be handy when creating handles for social media accounts.
NordPass: Mobile features
It’s important to remember that free users can’t use their passwords on many devices at the same time. If you’re signed in to the web extension and then try to sign in on your smartphone, NordPass will log you out of your desktop browser session. Although this behavior may appear annoying, it is still preferable to competing services that refuse to sync your credentials to a second device.
The Android app for NordPass is simple but appealing. NordPass displays a list of all of your vault items in the centre of the screen. A + button at the bottom of the screen allows you to add new logins, notes, credit cards, personal information, and folders. You can navigate between the home page, all item categories, and the app settings using the bottom navigation menu.
The Data Breach Scanner, password generator, and Password Health features, in particular, are mobile-friendly. Biometric mobile logins are supported by NordPass, and I was able to authenticate with my fingerprint without issue.
In addition to the service’s website, NordPass can now start apps connected with saved login items. NordPass is also capable of auto-filling forms in apps. Credit cards can also be scanned and imported into your vault.
Bottom line on NordPass
NordPass is definitely one of the top all-inclusive password managers in the market, now available as a browser extension on all main browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera and Safari). NordPas app is also available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
NordPass will keep your passwords, notes, credit card details secure and automatically help you login into your online accounts with ease. They also offer you a variety of security features that include Password Health Report, Data Breach Scanner to identify data leaks and vulnerable passwords.
Customer’s vault is further protected with MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) and biometrics login.
Overall, NordPass is a great all-inclusive password managers that constantly rolls out new features. Besides being one of the best-priced options in the market, NordPass is very intuitive, easy to use and powerful, when it comes to password management.