Solved Would you trust such a password manager?

Passwords and passkeys
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The analyzed artifact, "Password Defense.exe", is a benign, well-engineered local password manager. Forensic extraction yields no indicators of malicious intent, remote-access trojans (RATs), or stealth data exfiltration. The gap between advertised UI capabilities and the underlying code is practically nonexistent. Network operations are isolated to explicit, user-authorized actions (encrypted cloud-syncing and HIBP breach verification). The usage of high-tier cryptography (Argon2id and XChaCha20) reflects an intentional, security-focused architecture.

The strongest possible legitimate interpretation is exactly what the binary presents: a zero-knowledge, offline-first password vault built for users who distrust centralized cloud services. The high volume of GUI-related libraries and domain strings are safely attributed to the DirectX 11 interface and built-in template generations for common web accounts. The developer deliberately opted for a single, portable executable to reduce system footprint and increase trust.

While technical debt is low and engineering hygiene is excellent, all C++ portable password managers face inherent risks from OS-level compromise. The memory space holding the decrypted vault could theoretically be accessed by active process-dumpers or kernel-level clipboard sniffers on an infected machine. To harden this further, the developer is encouraged to explicitly implement SecureZeroMemory or RtlSecureZeroMemory on plaintext buffers immediately after credential utilization, alongside potential anti-debugging protections to prevent process inspection.

Why You Should Be Cautious
While the developer's intentions might be perfectly good, there are significant security realities to consider before trusting this software with your credentials:

Zero Established Reputation
Because the tool is only a few days old, it has no track record, community trust, or history of reliability.

No Independent Security Audits
Password managers are prime targets for attacks. Established tools undergo rigorous, independent security audits by professional penetration testers to ensure their encryption holds up. This new tool has not been audited.

Cryptographic Complexity
Even minor bugs in how encryption is implemented can render a password manager useless, leading to locked vaults or exposed data.
 
Jonny Quest said:
"Would you trust.... with no data regarding developers or company". Not a chance. Click on the Contact option at the bottom, it just re-loads the webpage. You would what, have to sign in, create an account for that option to be available?

I like @Divergent bold text summaries.
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Andy when first released his tools was both he and the tools unknown for a while.
The same will happen with Trident tools.

Being unknown to me, does not necessarily mean it is malicious or inefficient.
 
Parkinsond said:
Andy when first released his tools was both he and the tools unknown for a while.
The same will happen with Trident tools.

Being unknown to me, does not necessarily mean it is malicious or inefficient.
Click to expand...
With something like a PM, to me it makes all the difference. And we know Andy, Trident, from over the years and his threads that could be posted in any forum for their, a interested persons reference. There was also back and forth dialogue with the "new" developers here on the forum (as well as other forums), with Andy's being open source :)
 
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Parkinsond said:
Andy when first released his tools was both he and the tools unknown for a while.
The same will happen with Trident tools.

Being unknown to me, does not necessarily mean it is malicious or inefficient.
Click to expand...
You originally posted this product and condemned it outright. I actually took the time to analyze the binary, gave it a fair evaluation, and included a reasonable caution. Now you're backtracking, acting like you didn't just condemn it, and hiding behind other developers' reputations to try and save face.
 
Parkinsond said:
Being unknown to me, does not necessarily mean it is malicious or inefficient.
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Would you hand over your personal data to a stranger on the street, whom nobody knows? I could not even open their webpage, since it is NRD.
The single exe file is in ZIP for some reason. Executable itself is not digitally signed. Contact/Privacy link nowhere, so they can share data freely.
On top of it, they have decided to use the name of a verified extension for Edge/Chrome/Apple, typical. I have never seen so many red flags.

VirusTotal

VirusTotal
www.virustotal.com www.virustotal.com
 
Parkinsond said:
I know and I trust them also, but how many persons outside the limited number of MT active users know them? And after how many years some users started to know them outside MT?
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Sorry, I'm not going to try to keep up with you and your "justification" posts. Sometimes let people's posts and reactions be enough :)

I'm outta here :)
 
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