When I was in middle school the only thing I needed information to unlock was my locker. Remember memorizing those combinations?? And remember that time when you wrote your combination on a slip of paper and stuffed it in your pocket and then someone found it and played a prank on you? Yeah, those notebooks you are tempted to keep with all your passwords written in them are still a bad idea. And memorizing my locker combo somehow got me in the mode of thinking I could and SHOULD remember all of my passwords/combinations. However, if you had told me when I was 12 that in 40 years I would need to know passwords to get information about my bank account, purchase something from any number of online retailers (those didn’t even exist then!!), access my health records and so many more things, I don’t even think I could have fathomed it. However, passwords are a fact of life today. AND if you are careless about how you create or store these passwords, ne’er do wells can make your life pretty miserable. Luckily, there is a high-tech solution that far too few people use or know about. Today I want to convince you that using a password manager will make your life EASIER and more SECURE (are you convinced yet??), then I want to tell you a few of the options and explain the differences. What’s a password manager you say?? Let’s GOOOO!!!
I think most people have had the experience of having an account hacked. It’s a terribly disconcerting experience which at best can leave you locked out of your account and at worst can cost you money. Most hacks are caused by reusing passwords across multiple accounts and/or having easily guessed passwords. If you have a unique, very random, very complicated password for each account, the likelihood of an account being hacked goes down significantly. However, the downside is that then you have to remember or keep track of all of these unique, complicated passwords. Enter the star of today’s show – the password manager!!
What is a password manager?
A password manager is an application on your phone, computer or tablet that keeps track of the username and password for each individual account (statistics vary, but the average adult manages between 50 and 170 different accounts) and will generate complicated, unique passwords for you. They are protected by a “master password” or your device credentials and are generally stored encrypted.
There are two types of password managers – dedicated password managers which are external apps or services such as Lastpass and built in password managers – Like Keychain in iOS and Google Password Manager in Chrome.
External Applications:
Examples –
Highlights:
- Passwords are generally stored encrypted and then unencrypted on your personal device – so there is no data for hackers to steal (this is called Zero Knowledge Architecture)
- App will generate and store secure, unique passwords for each account you save
- App generally has an extension for your browser so that it automatically fills in the appropriate account information when you need to login to an account if you provide the master password or correct biometric
- Requires your master password or biometrics to access account information
- Can be paid subscriptions or free
- Should be able to access passwords from any device
Built-in Password Managers
Built-in Password managers do all of the same things as the dedicated password managers talked about above EXCEPT:
- Apple iOS Keychain only works when you are logged in to your apple devices – so it’s not helpful if I’m logged into a random PC
- Device related password managers are not as secure – they allow access to the passwords in the same way you access the device, so if someone knows how to get into your phone, they can also get into all of your passwords
- Google Password Manager does not use the Zero Knowledge Architecture that is the gold standard for password management (however iOS Keychain does) which makes it slightly less secure than other options – it IS however better than a notebook or reusing the same password over and over
Conclusion:
Each of these solutions will have a learning curve, but you can usually answer any question with a little Google search and I promise it will make your life easier if you start implementing one of them. They are all pretty similar.
I have used the free version of Lastpass for years and found it quite good. PCMagazine and other reviewers like some of the others better, so check out their recommendations. When I switched to Apple a few years ago, I started using Apple Keychain and that has been sufficient for me lately. Ultimately, the only wrong answer is to keep writing passwords down or reusing the same old passwords. Just pick something and get started!! There is lots of information out there so don’t get bogged down with information overload – just pick something. Start with a free version and see if you need to upgrade.
Good luck! Don’t become the next victim! Secure those passwords!
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