We are in an age where password security is becoming very important to our ability to function in society, but not for the reasons you expect. The password strength, although a problem, isn’t the real problem. The real problem is having to remember passwords for the multitude of online accounts we are forced to create to survive in the modern age of technology. In a survey performed last year by Digital Guardian, an average person or business associates their email address with 130 accounts.
That’s a lot of online accounts. Do you really want to try and remember that many passwords? Even worse, do you want to use the same couple of passwords for your all your online services? What if one of those sites has poor security and their password database gets compromised? That one password you use across many sites can be used by an attacker to access other accounts and make your life miserable.
I have talked to a few customers about using a password manager to circumvent this problem and the main fear is having their master password circumvented. Most password managers are not as easily accessible to online hackers (Depending on which solution you use) and it’s much more likely that one of your online accounts will be hacked instead. Plus password managers are designed to generate long, hard to guess passwords for each online service, and the application makes it easier to type those passwords into online accounts, so it’s not really a question of one of your passwords getting compromised (Unless you don’t use the password manager in the way it was intended.)
What is a password manager?
A password manager is similar to an excel spread sheet that you might create yourself to store information with the option of using that spreadsheet to auto generate a complicated passwords and auto-type them for you when you visit your most frequented sites. Password managers help you secure all kinds of information for you and it’s designed to keep that information safe.
Which password manager should you use?
Check out my recommendations for password managers. If you have any questions about software tools like this contact me, I can help you understand and use these tools that help you stay up to date with protecting your digital information.