With cyberthreats on the rise – if you DON’T have a Password Manager – you need one ASAP. The days of passwords written on sticky notes or notepads are long gone. A secure, robust password manager is the best way to stay secure online. And bonus – you can have it on all of your devices and it constantly syncs – keeping you and your passwords safe. If you have read any of what we have shared recently – you will know that a simple password that is set and never changed can take a whole (big) company to it’s knees. Uber’s recent hack is a cautionary tale for the ‘new’ ages. While passwords and their security is becoming more and more critical – a recent article on CNET states that 4 out of 5 American adults do NOT have a password manager.
A bonus of a password manager is that you can easily share sensitive data with family, coworkers, and friends. You can also store important information like SSN info, Credit Card Data; whatever sensitive data you want to keep safe but would like to have readily available if needed.
Your password manager can also help you fight against phishing scams. Even if a phishing attempt tricks you into clicking on a malicious link, it won’t trick the password manager. Your password manager will detect that the URL is different than the site you usually log into — regardless of how similar it may look to the naked eye.
If you have concerns about all of your treasured data being stored in one place ONLINE – do not fret. The top password managers use a ‘zero trust’ approach to password/data storage. What this means is that the password manager itself (or in the event of a breach) cannot access your information. It is all encrypted before it leaves your device. If your password manager cannot access the data – no one else can either.
One word of note on a password manager – you WILL have to have a MASTER password. Without the Master password – you will not be able to access your password manager. This is the one password that you have to remember — make sure it’s something you can recall, yet complex enough to make it difficult for others to guess. This is the ONE password you can write down – just make sure you keep it locked away. Another ‘tip or trick’ is to save it on your phone in notepad or in the notepad on your desktop. Just make sure to label it something innocuous. You can learn about setting up a password manager here. Below are some of the top password managers reviewed here. (We use Last Pass and Keeper in-house)