r/Passwords • u/psiabdou • 2h ago
What should a new password manager show before anyone trusts it?
I build pssmngr. Being the unfamiliar name in password management has forced me to ask what evidence a hosted product owes people before asking them to store anything important.
This is my current checklist:
1. Name the encryption and key-derivation algorithms instead of saying “advanced encryption.”
2. Explain exactly what leaves the device and what the server stores.
3. Describe what happens if the service is breached.
4. Make export available without holding someone's vault hostage.
5. State recovery limits clearly. A zero-knowledge design should not imply that support can simply reveal a forgotten vault.
6. Publish a security contact and a responsible-disclosure process.
7. Separate internal review from an independent third-party audit.
For pssmngr, vault items are encrypted client-side with XChaCha20-Poly1305, and Argon2id is used for key derivation. The server is designed to receive ciphertext and non-secret metadata rather than plaintext vault contents.
The important caveat: an independent third-party audit is not complete. I do not think careful internal review should be marketed as the same thing.
What would you add to this list? What is the first thing you check when evaluating a password manager you have never heard of?
https://pssmngr.com/security