I’ll go ahead and say it: I don’t know my Facebook password. It’s over 24 characters long and a jumble of letters, numbers and symbols which I can’t be bothered memorising. Why you ask?
Cybersecurity experts regularly talk about the importance of using strong passwords and using a different password for each digital service you use. The reasoning is that if someone could figure out, or brute force, one of your passwords they would only be able to access one part of your digital life and not everything else. In the real world, this is virtually impossible for our brains to manage. Enter password managers.
You’ve probably used your browser password manager before. It’s the box that pops up after you log into a website that offers to remember your password for you. Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox all offer this sort of service. However, they are very limited and potentially problematic. Firstly, your passwords could get mixed up with other users as we spoke about in the Cybersafety Hint #1 (last newsletter). Secondly, if you swap devices or browsers, your passwords don’t follow you, meaning you’ll have to waste more time typing them in. A separate password manager will help solve both of these problems!
Password managers like LastPass and Dashlane enable you to securely store your passwords and access them across various devices and browsers. They also offer super strong password suggestions and warn you when you’ve used the same password more than once. All you need to do is remember a master password and/or use your fingerprint to unlock the password. 2-factor authorisation is also required for all new devices or browsers with re-authorisation required every 30 days.
Bottom line? Keep yourself secure and safe online with a password manager.
More on password managers:
The Best Password Managers Directory 2019
Test how long it would take to crack your password
Photo by Goran Ivos on Unsplash