Table of Contents
Introduction
A majority of people use one weak password for all their online accounts. This is extremely insecure, as hacking one account can allow an attacker access to all your accounts! On the other hand, remembering multiple strong passwords is not possible. Password Managers provide the best solution to manage all your online accounts securely!
Password managers keep track of your login details for all websites and help you log in automatically. They only require you to remember one master password, making security easy and convenient!
What is a Password Manager?
A password manager will alleviate the burden of recalling a long list of passwords, allowing you to focus on more important tasks. Also, it will help you in preventing password attacks.
When you need to sign into a website with a password manager, you can go to the website usually first. Instead of entering your password into the website, you enter your master password into the password manager, which fills in the necessary login details for you. (If you’re already signed into your password manager, the details will be filled in for you automatically.) You don’t have to remember the email address, username, or password
Why you should never reuse passwords!
Because of the numerous password leaks that happen each year, including on large websites, password reuse is a serious issue. When your password is leaked, hackers gain access to your email address, username, and password, which they can use on other sites.
If you use the same login details on multiple websites, a data breach on one of them could give hackers access to all of your accounts. If anyone gains access to your email address in this manner, they might be able to access other websites, such as your online banking or PayPal account, by using password-reset links. You should use different passwords on each website to prevent password leaks from being so disruptive.
Even the average individual has tens of different passwords, while web enthusiasts have hundreds of accounts to keep track of. It’s virtually impossible to remember those powerful passwords. A password manager is a perfect solution since it creates safe, unique passwords for each website while requiring you to remember only one password!
Why Browser-Based Password Managers Aren’t the Best Choice
Password managers are built into most web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and others. The built-in password manager in each browser is no match for dedicated password managers. For one thing, Chrome and Internet Explorer save your passwords in an unencrypted format on your device, which is obviously unsafe.
Mozilla Firefox has a “master password” option that encrypts all of your saved passwords with a specific “master” password and saves them in an encrypted format on your device. Firefox’s GUI isn’t designed to help you create random passwords, and it lacks a number of features, including cross-platform syncing (Firefox doesn’t sync with iOS devices).
A specialized password manager can encrypt your passwords, assist you in creating safe random passwords, provide a more efficient interface, and allow you to easily manage your passwords across laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
Get Started with Password Manager
Choosing a master password is the first major decision you’ll have to make with a password manager. Since this master password gives you access to your entire password manager database, you should make it extra secure – after all, it’ll be the only password you’ll need to remember.
After choosing a password, you might want to write it down and keep it somewhere secure just in case – for example, if you’re very serious, you might keep your master password in a bank vault. You can change this password later if you remember it, but you won’t be able to see your saved passwords if you forget your master password.
After downloading a password manager of your choice, you must change all your weak passwords instantly. The LastPass Security Challenge describes the poor and duplicate passwords that you can concentrate on modifying. Dashlane comes with a built-in Security Dashboard that will help you find out which passwords need to be updated, and has a feature to do it automatically.
Password managers also enable you to securely store other types of data, such as credit card numbers and secure notes. Your master password encrypts all of the data you store in a password manager.
Password managers will also protect you from phishing by automatically filling account information into websites based on your web address (URL). If your password manager doesn’t instantly fill in your login details when you think you’re on your bank’s website, it’s likely you’re on a phishing website with a separate URL.
Famous Password Managers
There are many password managers to choose from, but three stand out as the best. Each is a viable choice, and which you choose will depend on your priorities:
Dashlane: This password manager is relatively new, but it makes up for it with amazing features and a slick app interface. It is available on all platforms, including Windows, OS X, iPhone, iPad, and Android. They have extensions for each and every browser, as well as features such as a security dashboard that analyses your passwords and an automatic password changer that can modify your passwords for multiple websites instantly!
Dashlane is completely free to use on a single device, but you will need to upgrade to premium if you want to integrate your passwords across more than one device. While the premium business version is expensive at $5 per user per month, it has a US patented security architecture, with advanced reporting and policy management!
LastPass is a cloud-based password manager that includes plugins, smartphone applications, and even desktop apps for all of the major browsers and operating systems. It’s incredibly strong, and it also includes a number of two-factor authentication options to ensure that no one else can access your password vault. LastPass stores the passwords in an encrypted format on its servers; the LastPass extension or software decrypts and encrypts them locally when you log in, so LastPass can’t access them even if they wanted to.
KeePass: Some people are just uneasy with the idea of using a cloud-based password manager, and that’s where KeePass comes in. KeePass is a common desktop application for password management, but it also has browser extensions and smartphone applications. KeePass saves the passwords on your device, allowing you to keep hold of them. It’s also open-source, allowing you to audit the code if you wanted to.