Password managers

What are they? Do I need one?

• Are you using the same password for more than one application?
• Would I find your password in the dictionary?
• Do you forget your passwords easily and often have to reset them?

My guess is you answered yes to at least one of the above questions, if so then you NEED a password manager!

Passwords are a vital part of our online identity, they’re the digital equivalent to a lock on a door which holds all of your personal information. This makes them a prime target for cyber criminals. There are a multitude of ways in which a hacker can crack your password so its super important you have a vault of strong passwords for each site that you use. If a criminal cracks your password they can gain access to your social media, contacts, photos, videos, emails and finances.

I’ll go into detail of how criminals can crack your password in a later blog post but all you need to know right now is if you have an easy password a criminal can crack it quicker than you can read this paragraph. Examples of easy to crack passwords include those that feature common words that you would find in a dictionary, personal information such a birthday or passwords that are shorter than 8 characters long. Using large lists of stolen passwords bought off the dark web, cyber criminals can brute force their way into your lives and then use this to scam you.

The average user has around 100 passwords.

Nordpass 2020

what can i do to protect my passwords?

Well i’m glad you asked! This is where password managers come in to play.

Password managers basically act as an online vault for you to store all your personal information including passwords, addresses and even bank details. They store your login information for all the websites you use and help you log into them automatically. In 2020 Nordpass reported that the average user has around 100 passwords. As technology advances so do the list of passwords we have to remember for each new application and website we sign up for. Password managers encrypt your password database with one ‘master password‘ meaning you only have to remember one password.

What are the benefits of using a password manager?

• You dont have to remember 100 passwords, just remember one master password.
• They can auto fill extremely complicated passwords for you such as ‘9y6JlBYf8PiY’ instead of using ‘password123’.
• They save time by auto filling not only your password but can also auto-fill your personal details in online forms (especially handy when online shopping).

So which password manager should i use?

Many desktops and laptops have password managers which store your passwords locally on your device in an encrypted vault however you can’t access these if you lose the device or if that device becomes compromised.

I would suggest using a cloud based password manager.

The main beenfit of using a cloud based password manager is that you can access it from multiple devices. Many browsers such as safari, chrome and edge all come with password managers installed in them. These are a great starting point for storing passwords.

I personally would recommend the use of LASTPASS. https://www.lastpass.com/

LastPass is a free to use password manager. With an easy-to-use dashboard with unlimited storage, LastPass remembers every password and syncs across all your devices for free. LastPass secures everything you need, from passwords to digital notes, addresses to financial information.

Free features include:

• Secure password vault
• Access on all devices
• One-to-one sharing
• Save and fill passwords
• Password generator
• Secure notes
• Security challenge
• Multifactor authentication
• LastPass Authenticator

how it works