Keep your confidential data safe with the Master Password

Think of your Master Password as the master key that unlocks your NordPass vault. Only you know what this password is, and not even we can see or govern it. Using it will authorize NordPass to store, retrieve, and autofill passwords and other sensitive information on your behalf, ensuring you can access your accounts quickly and securely.

When creating your account, you will be asked to set up a strong Master Password. It's designed to act as a highly secure combination of letters and/or numbers that protect your most important data, so choosing one that's difficult to guess is essential. Losing this password could mean losing access to your password storage, so always make sure it's easy for you to remember.

Your Master Password helps you to maintain strong password hygiene more easily. Instead of creating and remembering a long, complex, unique password for every account you own, your Master Password means you only have to do this once.

A strong Master Password also minimizes the risks that come with using weak or repeated passwords. Many people use the same login details across multiple platforms, which makes it easy for cybercriminals to break into several accounts after breaching just one. Your Master Password essentially eliminates this risk.

Once your Master Password is set, NordPass will generate, store, and autofill all your other login details. This ensures you stay secure online without having to remember multiple complicated logins or rely on simple passwords that are easy to hack.

Having one strong Master Password is much safer and easier than managing hundreds of poor ones. It makes logging in to your accounts safer and simpler. And it also stops you from using weak passwords or developing bad password habits that put your personal and business data at risk.

Your workplace collaboration tools, social media accounts, and internet banking are all vulnerable to attacks if the credentials used to access them aren’t up to standard. And while simple passwords may feel more convenient, they’re often the easiest for threat actors to intercept. That's why having a strong Master Password in place is so important.

With a strong Master Password, all of the information in your vault stays secure and private. NordPass also uses zero-knowledge architecture, which means not even we know what your Master Password is or what data you have stored.

Traditional cybersecurity wisdom says a strong master password should be a random string of numbers, letters, and symbols. That's a great start. But here are 5 other steps you can take to help make your Master Password even more secure:

1. Make it long: The longer the password, the more difficult it is to guess. So always aim for 12–16 characters, since length is one of the strongest defenses against password spraying and brute-force attacks.


2. Use a passphrase: One word can be good. But linking several words together in a passphrase is even better. WhyNotTryItNow? Using unique combinations like this makes your Master Password harder to crack while still keeping it memorable.


3. Avoid predictability: If it’s a famous quote, song lyric, or phrase, there’s a good chance threat actors will try it. So always try to think outside the box, avoiding any personal details like birthdays, names, or anything that can be found online.


4. Keep it unique: Using the same password for multiple accounts is never a good idea. Considering this, only use your Master Password once. This way, your vault stays protected even if another unrelated login is compromised.


5. Make it memorable: A strong Master Password is useless if you forget what it is. So be sure to choose something that’s random yet meaningful to you personally. The goal is to find a balance between complexity and memorability. Your Master Password should be something only you can remember easily.

Bonus tip: Use a secure Master Password that avoids patterns, dates, or number sequences. Attackers know these habits well and often build them into their cracking tools. Instead, try to focus on mixing unexpected words and characters in ways that only make sense to you.

Because NordPass is built on a zero-knowledge architecture, your Master Password is known only to you. If you happen to lose it, you can set a new one using the unique Recovery Code provided during setup. However, since we do not store this code for security reasons, it is vital to keep it in a safe place; losing both your password and Recovery Code will require an account reset, which permanently erases all your stored login information.

If you’re a NordPass Business user who’s forgotten your Master Password and lost the Recovery Code, it's still possible to regain access. Just visit Account Recovery for Business users to find out how.