Tag Archives: password managers

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Secure Your Data with a Password Manager

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By Tracey Dowdy

Still using your birthday as your password? Your child’s birthday? Your anniversary? That’s what a friend of mine that works in online security refers to as “One, two, three, four, come on hackers, open the door” kind of protection. 

During this season when so many of us are working from home, secure passwords are more important than ever. If you’ve been online for years, the prospect of securing all those accounts may seem daunting. But, the risk of leaving your personal information vulnerable to hackers far outweighs any potential cost or inconvenience. That’s why you need to start using a Password Manager which serves as an encrypted database of all your passwords. Instead of writing them on post-it notes you’ll lose or saving hem in a note or memo on your phone which could be lost, stolen, or hacked, do yourself a favor and remember one – the one that unlocks the vault – your password manager. 

Here are three of the best options out there. 

LastPass remembers all your passwords across devices for free. It’s particularly useful for online shopping as once you’re logged in, LastPass auto-populates all the necessary fields, and allows you to store more than just passwords to your online accounts – you can store insurance cards, memberships, and Wi-Fi passwords and safely share passwords and notes with sensitive information with anyone via encrypted text. There are paid versions, but the free version offers everything the average user will need. 

Zoho Vault is great if you have to share access within a workgroup. Passwords are encrypted with the strongest encryption standard (AES-256); enables you to provide passwords to users and groups in bulk while instantly denying access to any user who is removed; enables direct connection to websites and apps without having to manually enter login credentials; allows you to grant different access privileges to select individuals; and generates reports to keep track of which users have access to various passwords. There are free and paid versions with a 15-day free trial on paid editions.

Dashlane syncs across all your Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices, provides all the essential and advanced password management features of many pricier versions, includes VPN protection, and will even scan the Dark Web for compromised accounts and capture your online shopping receipts. The biggest downside is the cost. Though there is a free version, some of the features users really want are only included in the paid versions, and there is limited support for Internet Explorer users. 

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.

Online Safety, How To, home

Create and Store Strong Passwords

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By Tracey Dowdy

By now we all understand the absolute importance of strong passwords to protect our personal data. Post-it notes get lost, hard copies kept in diaries and planners can be compromised, and smartphone memos and notes are also at risk. 

The trick is to create and remember unique passwords for all your accounts. According to LogMeIn, which makes the LastPass password manager, it’s not uncommon for users to have 85 passwords for all your accounts, from banking to streaming to social media, making it impossible for the average individual to remember them all without help. 

And although password security isn’t an iron-clad guarantee that your data will never be compromised or hacked, it certainly minimizes your risk.  These tips will help you create, manage, and store secure passwords. 

Write them down. That may seem counterintuitive, but if you have a safe, firebox, or file cabinet that can be locked, you can go old-school and write it down. Just be sure you limit the number of people who know you’ve written them down and where you store them.

Use a Password Manager. The best passwords are longer than eight characters, are hard to guess and comprised of a variety of characters, numbers and special symbols. The problem is those same features that make them hard to guess also make them hard to remember especially if you’re smart enough to use unique passwords for each account. Password managers like Dashlane, 1Password, and LastPass create secure, complex passwords and store them in an encrypted database. 

Monitor whether your passwords have been compromised. Mozilla’s Firefox Monitor,  Have I Been Pwned, and Google’s Password Checkup can show you which – if any – of your email addresses and passwords have been compromised in a data breach. 

Avoid using birthdays, anniversaries, and other common passwords. Passwords like password, 123456, qwerty, or your birthday, anniversary, child, spouse or pet’s name are among the most common and easily guessed. If you’re using one or any of these, stop reading and go change it now!

The bigger the better. Eight characters are generally the suggested length for secure passwords but don’t be afraid to use more. The challenge, of course, becomes trying to remember those long, complicated characters, but that’s why password managers come in handy. 

Don’t repeat your passwords. One of the biggest and most common mistakes we make, even with complex passwords, is repeating them across accounts. Don’t do it. Once they’ve guessed it for one, hackers will attempt to access other accounts leaving your data vulnerable. 

Use two-factor authentication (2FA) Along with a complex, secure password, you should also use two-step verification (2FA) for an additional layer of protection so even if hackers guess your password, there’s an additional layer of protection. When you use 2FA, once the password is entered, you’ll be sent a one-time code – usually via text – so that only you can access the account. Without entering that code, the account remains locked. 

Use an authentication app like Authy, Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator instead of text messaging in 2FA. Once you’re set-up, you can choose to register your device or browser so you don’t need to keep verifying it each time you sign in.

By the way, a survey by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), analyzed passwords belonging to accounts worldwide that had been breached. They also discovered that codes using names, sports teams and swear words are more popular than you might think. 

The top 10 most common passwords were:

  1. 123456
  2. 123456789
  3. qwerty
  4. password
  5. 111111
  6. 12345678
  7. abc123
  8. 1234567
  9. Password1 
  10. 12345

So, if you’re “protecting” yourself with any of those, it’s not a matter of “if” you’ll be hacked but “when.”

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.