Sticky Password Review

Password Manager & Vault

Similar to other password managers, Sticky Password provides a secure password vault where you can save, store, and access unlimited passwords and other data. The password vault is, in essence, a digital safety deposit box that can only be accessed via your master password and two-factor authentication.

Sticky Password never knows your master password, and so, it must be safely stored since there is no way to recover your account if you forget it. This is somewhat concerning considering that we all occasionally forget our passwords. Other password managers, like LastPass and Keeper Security, give you the option to set up a security question and answer to recover your account. Not being able to recover your account if you lose or forget your master password is a shortcoming and should be considered before signing up to Sticky Password. However, if you are a super-organized person then it may not be a problem for you.

It is also important to note that only authorized devices can access your account. This extra layer of security makes it impossible for someone to access your vault from a device that has not been authorized by yourself.

Auto-fill

Auto-fill will help you save a lot of time which you would otherwise use filling online forms with your credentials. With Sticky Password’s auto-fill functionality you no longer need to worry about having to remember your passwords, fill login details, or even enter your credit card credentials for online shopping. Let auto-fill do it for you.

Auto-fill can automatically populate names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, passwords, and credit card info, as well as save and fill information for multiple identities. This is useful when you have different identities set up for different accounts. For example, you may have two accounts set up with Amazon, one for personal use and the other for your family. You can easily save both logins in your vault and the next time you visit Amazon, autofill will give you the option of which identity you want to use.

Auto-fill is, without a doubt, one of the most important features of a password manager and so it needs to function seamlessly. From our experience using auto-fill, we can confirm that it is simple and easy to use – it gets a thumbs up from us.

Password Generator

Let’s face it, nowadays we need a username and password for almost every website that we use. It is near impossible to create and remember unique login details for each site so we often end up reusing the same information across multiple accounts. This poses an enormous security risk, but having a strong password generator to hand is an ideal way to solve this problem.

Sticky Password is equipped with a built-in password generator that you can use across all your devices. Simply select the length (between 4 up to 99 characters), different combinations of characters, letters, digits, uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and punctuation, and the generator will create a unique, strong, password.

Security Dashboard

The Security Dashboard reports the strength of your stored passwords. Any passwords that don’t cut the mustard will be flagged so that you can replace them.

Sticky Password will constantly remind you to change your weak (don’t use enough variation in characters, numbers, and so on), reused (used for two or more accounts) and old (haven’t been changed for 12 months or more) passwords.

The Security Dashboard isn’t a unique feature to Sticky Password, most password managers have one, but it is still vital to ensure you consistently remain protected online, especially when it comes to replacing reused passwords. Take it from me, some of my data was compromised in a data breach because I had reused a weak password for two accounts. Hackers managed to get my account details and then attempted to make fraudulent purchases from my HelloFresh account, a recipe box delivery service. If I had used unique passwords for each account, my data would never have been used against me. Luckily, my password manager quickly notified me of the compromised data so I could take immediate action. I should have known better than to reuse passwords as it is something that I preach. The reason I am being so honest with you is that I want to make the point that anyone, even cybersecurity experts, can fall victim to cybercrime by slipping up on password usage.

Although Sticky Password will alert you of weak, reused, and old passwords, they don’t provide dark web scans, nor do they notify you of any security breaches. This means that they do not scan the internet for your credentials, so you won’t know if they’ve been compromised. As a result, we highly recommend opting for Dashlane Premium which caters to all of the above.

Digital Wallet

A digital wallet lets you safely keep your credit cards, identity cards, driver’s license, and other credentials in your encrypted vault and use them with one click when needed.

The major benefit is that it allows for safe payment and fast checkout whilst shopping online. It also means that you no longer need to run around the house trying to find your credit card – simply let Sticky Password auto-fill your card credentials for you. It is incredibly easy to use.

Say goodbye to saving your payment information in less secure applications like web browsers, and say hello to a safer and quicker way to store and use your credentials whenever you need them.

Secure Notes

The integrated secure notes feature allows you to create encrypted memos.

From our experience using password managers, we rarely use secure notes and while you probably won’t regularly use this feature either, it is particularly useful to store answers for security questions. Since the majority of sites that you sign up to will request that you choose a security question and answer, you may as well save them in a secure vault for easy access.

Top tip: You can make your security question answers hard-to-crack if, instead of using the actual answer, you use a random string of characters, numbers, and punctuation. You can use the password generator to create the ‘false’ answer and store it in your encrypted memos. This adds a layer of security to your account as your answer becomes increasingly hard to guess by hackers.

Secure Sharing

Have you ever created a spreadsheet to share passwords with your friends, family, or co-workers? Or maybe you’ve shared login details over an email or text message? It is easy to use non-secure methods to share passwords, but they open the door to cybercrime.

Luckily, Sticky Password facilitates a safe, simple, and effective way to share login details. The secure sharing feature lets you share passwords without risking the security of your accounts. All the credentials that you share are encrypted with AES-256, the same encryption standard used by the military and banks. Only the rightful users can decrypt the data.

The secure sharing feature also comes equipped with access management which allows administrators to specify which passwords a specific user can access. This is particularly useful for businesses that want granular control over which employees can access certain data.

Cloud & Local WiFi Sync Across All Your Devices

We have tested and reviewed numerous password managers and can confidently say that Sticky Password is the only one that lets you choose from three different synchronization methods. You can either sync via the superfast cloud option, use the super-secure local WiFi sync, or, if you are particularly cautious, you can vigilantly sync manually offline. No matter which option you pick, your data is wrapped in a cocoon of military‑grade AES‑256 encryption which significantly lowers the risk of hackers being able to intercept your data and use it.

While most password managers offer cloud synchronization, Sticky Password takes it a step further by offering WiFi sync as part of its data synchronization options. We like this feature because it enables passwords to be synchronized between devices via your local WiFi network instead of using the cloud (Sticky Passwords servers). This works in the same way as WiFi printers and is much more secure since your data never leaves the safety of the closed network. In contrast, cloud syncing sends your data out to a remote server (in an encrypted format) from which your devices then download all of your stored passwords and other sensitive information. While cloud syncing is more convenient than WiFi syncing, it is less secure.

In addition to cloud and WiFi sync, security-conscious individuals can sync using the manual offline method. The offline syncing process is the safest of the three but it does require you to manually copy data between devices. Although this may not be the most convenient option, it is certainly the safest.

Secure Cloud Backup

Sticky Password gives you the choice of backing up your encrypted data in their secure cloud servers, and we highly recommend you opt-in. In brief, cloud backup gives you a safety net to fall back on as you can restore multiple older versions of your database.

It is important to mention that while all of your data including passwords, digital identities, secure memos, credit card credentials and whatever else you have stored, are backed up, your master password is never backed up and should you ever lose or forget it you will not be able to restore it via the cloud.

USB Portable Password Manager

How great would it be if you could take your password vault with you wherever you go? Of course, you can use it on all of your authorized devices but what if you could use it on any computer – at work, school, at a friend’s house? That would be pretty neat, right?

Sticky Password has you covered. You can create a portable version of the password manager by saving it on a USB drive.

This is very handy when you need to work on a computer that doesn’t belong to you or doesn’t have Sticky Password installed. Imagine a scenario where you need to use a computer in the business lounge of an airport. You need to log into a business-critical account to view the latest sales figures, but the computer you use doesn’t have Sticky Password installed, and you can’t remember the secure password that you created for the account. You simply need to plug your USB drive in, run the portable version of Sticky Password, and log in as you would normally.

The USB drive only works on Windows devices and can be used with all major internet browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.

However, there is one drawback. The passwords stored on the portable USB are not automatically synced, meaning you have to manually update the password database before you need to use it. Luckily, the process to update the database is easy. Plug the drive into your computer and using the Sticky Password application to update it.

Two-Factor Authentication

We cover two-factor authentication across all our reviews as it is commonly used by password managers. You shouldn’t let this feature sway your decision of which password manager to sign-up to, but rather consider it as a must-have feature.

Two-factor authentication, 2FA for short, is used to grant access to a device or account only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism. Two unrelated pieces of information from two unconnected sources are needed for authentication of a device or your identity.

As with all other password managers, Sticky Password uses two-factor authentication to add a layer of protection to strengthen the security of your passwords and sensitive data. It may sound complicated but it is straightforward to use. You have most likely used 2FA before when logging into other accounts that you have. To unlock, decrypt, and gain access to your vault, you need to enter a randomly generated security code in addition to your master password.

For this process to be successful you need to install Google Authenticator (GA) on your mobile device to enable 2FA. GA is the app that will generate the authentication codes that you’ll need to enter alongside your master password. You can download GA on Android and iOS like you would with any other app.

The key benefit of using 2FA is that it allows you to choose and authenticate the devices that you want to have access to your password vault. This means that a cybercriminal would need both your master password and one of your authenticated devices to access your account, hence the two-factor aspect. 2FA, therefore, significantly lowers your risk of being hacked.

Fingerprint Scanning

Sticky Password is one of the few password managers that gives you the option of using biometric identification to unlock and decrypt your password vault.

With this feature, you can verify your identity and login to your vault using your fingerprint. Most of us already do this to unlock our mobile devices, so it should come as second nature.

If you opt to use biometric identification, you are, by default, choosing to use it as a substitute for your master password. This has its positives and negatives.

On the upside, you no longer need to manually type in your master password, making it convenient to use. However, continually using your fingerprint for a prolonged period could lead you to forget your master password, and as previously discussed, there is no way to recover your account once you lose or forget it. Slightly more concerning is the fact that biometric data is immutable. You can change your master password, but you can’t change your fingerprint. As a result, the data stored in a biometric database may be more vulnerable if your fingerprint was to become compromised.

Save Endangered Manatees

Pardon?

Yes, you heard us right – you can save endangered manatees.

Saving these large, herbivorous, marine mammals, often referred to as sea cows, won’t heighten the level of security you have but signing up to a premium plan will help to support efforts to protect these endangered species.