As the new year approaches, it’s important to consider making better password management a resolution for the coming year. While it may seem like passwords are becoming a thing of the past, they’re still a necessary part of our online lives, especially when you click to log into that one website and your normal go to password doesn’t work and what can be worse is having to use that annoying “forgot my password” button. While face-scanning technology and fingerprints are the new normal to unlock your phone, unfortunately there are a myriad of applications and websites that still require that trusty/rusty old password.
It’s tempting to use the same password for multiple accounts, but this can be a momentous mistake on a scale so big that you could end up regretting it forever. Think about just how much of our lives are online and it is possible for one bad actor to truly throw a spanner in the works. Hackers make money by getting leverage on you and the emotional rollercoaster people can go through can be immense. Imagine this scenario: A hacker gains access to your email account and hijacks all of your photos stored online to ransom and threatens to delete decades worth of memories unless you pay 1 Bitcoin. Do you have another backup, when was the last time you backed up your files, how many old cell phones of photos are on there, are there private information on there, if they have access to your email what other accounts can they now log into, what happens if they start emailing other people pretending to be me, have you now lost that email account forever? Unfortunately this is a daily occurrence for people all around the world and the hackers just keep making more money from it every year.
Having to remember a unique password for every website can be overwhelming and unless you are using a password manager I’m pretty sure whatever system you are using has a flaw that can be exploited. When you think about all the websites you have signed up for in the past we soon start counting in the dozens. A password manager helps you keep track of all of your passwords and ensures that you’re using unique, strong passwords for each account but not all password managers are equal and you also have to be careful of the fake password manager apps.
A password manager acts like a book of passwords, locked by a master key that only you know and other security protections to keep your most sensitive information safe. These tools not only store your passwords, but they also help you generate and save strong, unique passwords when you sign up for new websites. This means that whenever you need to log in to a website or app, you can simply access your password manager, copy your password, and paste it into the login box. Many password managers also come with browser extensions that automatically fill in your password for you, making the process even easier. And because many password managers offer encrypted sync across devices, you can take your passwords with you wherever you go, even on your phone.
But why should you use a password manager? There are several reasons why you should consider making this tool a part of your online security routine.
First and foremost, passwords are constantly being stolen. Websites and services are at risk of breaches, and phishing attacks can trick you into giving away your password. While companies are supposed to scramble your password using a process called hashing, not all of them use strong or modern algorithms, which makes it easy for hackers to reverse the hashing and read your password in plain text. Some companies don’t even bother with hashing at all, putting your accounts at risk of fraud and your data at risk of being used for identity theft.
You will have noticed over time the requirements for creating a password keeps getting more and more complex, this is for the safety of your data, so passwords are now longer & more complex with a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation. A password manager makes it easy to generate and store these stronger, unique passwords for each site, preventing credential stuffing attacks where hackers take your password from one breached site and try to use it to log in to your account on other sites.
Another benefit of using a password manager is that it can store other sensitive information, such as tokens, credit card numbers, and even crypto keys. This means that you only have to remember one master password, rather than a long list of different passwords and other sensitive information.
A password manager can make your online life much easier and more secure. It takes the hassle out of creating and remembering strong passwords and stores other sensitive information in one secure location. It may take a little bit of effort to get started, but the peace of mind and added security will be well worth it.
There are many different password managers available, ranging from free options to paid ones with more features, a couple worth looking at are Dashlane or Keeper. It’s important to do your research and choose a password manager that meets your needs and has a good reputation for security. Unfortunately not all password managers are perfect, recently “Last Pass” had a major data breach that required users to take immediate steps to protect themselves.
It is worth going to https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if your email has been leaked by any organisations. When I checked my personal email address it came up with 22 leaks by companies and some of them were large companies. We are not just talking small leaks and small companies, unfortunately even companies like Adobe, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Sony ect have had large leaks over the time. My old trusty/rusty password is now visible to hackers all over the world.
Once you’ve chosen a password manager, the process of getting started is usually simple. You’ll need to create a master password, which should be strong and unique, but still something that you can remember. Then you can start adding your passwords and other sensitive information to the password manager. It’s a good idea to take some time to go through all of your accounts and update the passwords to strong, unique ones. This can be a bit time-consuming, but it’s an important step to ensure the security of your accounts.
Using a password manager may take a bit of getting used to, but it’s a small price to pay for the added security and convenience it provides. I’d much rather tell you to change your habits now than “I told you so” later when you get hacked because some other company leaked your email address and password. So make better password management a resolution for the new year and protect yourself and your accounts from the risks of weak or reused passwords. This is also your reminder to do an offline backup!
