The internet kicks serious butt. From websites giving you lessons on any topic, to ones that are your favourite time-wasters, the possibilities of engaging the digital world are endless. But with many websites comes many accounts to use them, and with many accounts comes many passwords. Juggling numerous passwords can be difficult, and can complicate managing numerous accounts. By using the following tips, you can help make your passwords and online experience safer and stress-free.
Secure your passwords
It’s important to remember that a password is only as strong as the ways it is kept safe and secure. Keeping your passwords written down on a sticky note on the side of your computer screen might make it easy to access your accounts, but it also makes it easy for everyone that sees it to also access your accounts. Even storing your plaintext passwords (meaning it’s easily readable) in an unsecured document on your computer isn’t much of an improvement. Even the social media giant Facebook recently got in hot water for leaving passwords in plain text.
With a password manager, your passwords are encrypted and hidden away from prying eyes. Using just one strong password to access the password manager is infinitely more secure than keeping passwords written down on a sheet of paper in a drawer or on a desk. As well, a password manager can be accessed from numerous devices, making it easier than running back to the same place when recalling which password is needed.
Use more than one password
Although it’s easier to use one password for all your online accounts, this also means that if an account is hacked, it could potentially affect all your other accounts using the same password. Using different passwords for each website or account can help avoid this risk. Multiple passwords make life harder for people trying to hack your accounts, which helps make life better for you (and is also one of the few times when making someone’s job harder is a good thing). For managing the numerous different passwords you need, having them accessible in one protected place makes it easier to access and use them (making a password manager a prime candidate).
Make strong passwords
Passwords that are easy to remember are easy to hack - using common words such as “password” or keyboard combinations like “abc123” are among the most common passwords used online. As a result, more complex passwords provide a stronger defense than easily-guessed combinations. Complex passwords include using at least 12 characters, a combination of letters/numbers/symbols/punctuation, and upper/lower case letters exponentially increases the effort needed to get into your online accounts. A good password manager has a feature to generate strong passwords at random using all these requirements, taking the heat off of you to come up with your line of defense for your online accounts.
For many great reasons, it’s worthwhile to invest in a password manager that meets your needs. LastPass offers a password manager starting at $4.00/month and provides an enormous number of features for both personal and business needs. In particular, LastPass’ Family Password Manager feature ensures that your family members have secured passwords for all their online needs - for only $4/month, you can make sure that your kids never bother you for the Netflix password ever again (and also secure their numerous passwords, I guess). But you only share the passwords that you want them to know!
