There are millions of companies still using very basic passwords to protect their businesses’ most important information. It may have been safe to use a password consisting of your pet’s name followed by a number and feel it was adequate to protect you years ago however, these days it simply won’t do.
It’s no exaggeration that there are thousands of people being paid to sit in rooms all day simply trying to hack into your accounts and that hacked information makes its way to hacker forums for the highest bidders. These personal details that are up for grabs are then sold to small time online blackmailers who make big time online money out of it by holding you ransom to monthly payments as they hold your own information or your clients’ information in their hands. It’s a serious business and password protection is not something to take lightly anymore.
A password manager is a big step towards protecting yourselves and will take the worry out of somebody stealing your login information. They will store your login details for every website you use and assist you in logging into them automatically. All of your passwords are encrypted and your master password, which gives you access to all your passwords, is the only one you have to remember.
Don’t Reuse Passwords!!
Using the same passwords for lots of other accounts can cause you serious headaches and financial losses due to the many password leaks that happen every year, even on very large websites. Once your password leaks, malicious individuals gain access to your email address, password and username and then try these on lots of different websites. If you use the same password details on other sites then a leak at one website can give hackers access to more of your accounts. If they get access to your email account then they are only moments away from resetting your passwords on all of your other accounts, including paypal and online banking! You see how quickly this can turn ugly.
Why Browser-Based Password Managers are Not the Best Alternative
Web browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome all have their own integrated password managers however they are no match for dedicated password managers. Internet Explorer and Chrome won’t offer the same protection due to their unencrypted nature. And although Firefox offers an encrypted form of password storage their interface won’t generate random passwords for you.
A dedicated password manager can store your passwords in an encrypted form, assist you in generating long random passwords and give you access to all your passwords across different computers, mobile phones and tablets you use.
Here’s a Look at Two Dedicated Password Managers (there are more available)
Lastpass:
This password manager is cloud-based with extensions, mobile apps and desktop apps for all the browsers and operating systems. It’s a very powerful manager also offering two-factor authentication choices to doubly protect you from others logging into your password vault. Lastpass stores all your passwords on their servers in an encrypted form – the lastpass extension or app decrypts and encrypts them when logging in, meaning Lastpass can never see your passwords, even if they wanted to. They offer both a free (unlimited password storage) and paid service.
Learn more:
https://www.lastpass.com/
Dashlane:
Dashlane allows you to keep all of your passwords locally on your computer rather than in the cloud. You can use it completely free on a single device (store up to 50 passwords) but if you want to sync your passwords between devices you will want to upgrade to their premium service.
Learn more:
https://www.dashlane.com/
