Password Managers - Never forget your passwords again!
We use passwords for everything nowadays - Pipeline, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, our banking accounts, you name it! With this many passwords to remember, it is awfully tempting to use the same password (or at least a variation of the same password) for every website we use. This bad habit is convenient, but very dangerous, as it increases the likelihood that a hacker will be able to compromise every account you have. And no one wants that!
It is definitely better to generate unique passwords for each website, but how is one supposed to keep track of them all? Fortunately, there are free programs called Password Managers which make this task easy!
There are many password managers available online, but let's look at LastPass as an example. All one needs to do is to download LastPass as a web browser extension, which will work in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera. A first-time user will need to come up with one final username and password to login to the LastPass account (hence the name), and the LastPass account will take care of the rest!
For instance, say that you just got LastPass hooked up, and you want to log into Pipeline. When you go to Pipeline's login page, LastPass will put an icon next to the password area. Click the icon, and LastPass will ask you for permission to handle logging into Pipeline for you. Say "Yes," and every time you visit Pipeline from then on, LastPass will automatically fill in your username and password for you!
This may not sound like a big deal, since most browsers already offer the ability to remember usernames and passwords for you. However, LastPass will also store your usernames and passwords in a list - should you ever completely forget your login info for a website, you can retrieve it from LastPass!
As a final perk, LastPass also has the ability to generate extremely strong passwords for you. We've all seen that certain password are "weak" or "strong" - this basically refers to how hard it is for hackers to find your passwords. Strong passwords typically look something like this - "$!mmAz/mx4.-MVT," - that is to say, uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, punctuation marks, special characters, no dictionary words, and 16 characters or longer in length. Such passwords are nearly impossible to hack, but they are also impossible to remember. LastPass will generate extremely strong passwords such as these for you, and will even keep track of them for you and make sure that no two websites share the same password!
Password managers are great, but they still have one serious security flaw - if a hacker manages to find your LastPass username and password, he will be able to see the list of all your saved passwords for websites! To prevent this from happening there are two easy things you can do. First, make sure that you have a reasonably strong password to log in to LastPass. It's okay to make this password easier to remember than other passwords, but do try to throw in some uppercase and lowercase letters with a number, just to be safe.
Next, enable two-factor security on your LastPass account. To do this, simply provide your phone number to LastPass. The next time you log in to your LastPass account on your computer, LastPass will text a randomly generated code to your phone, and ask you to enter the code to proceed. Once you do this, you can register your computer as a trusted machine, so you won't have to go through the texting process any more. However, any time a hacker tries to login to your account from a different computer somewhere else in the world, he won't be able to enter the code sent to your phone in a text message!
Whenever you have some free time, I would definitely recommend downloading a password manager to take care of your online accounts. LastPass is not the only option available, it's just the one I'm most familiar with. Whichever option you choose, I hope you will enjoy the extra security and convenience that password managers provide for free! :)
It is definitely better to generate unique passwords for each website, but how is one supposed to keep track of them all? Fortunately, there are free programs called Password Managers which make this task easy!
LastPass is not the only password manager available, but any one you
choose will greatly improve your security and make your life easier!
There are many password managers available online, but let's look at LastPass as an example. All one needs to do is to download LastPass as a web browser extension, which will work in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera. A first-time user will need to come up with one final username and password to login to the LastPass account (hence the name), and the LastPass account will take care of the rest!
For instance, say that you just got LastPass hooked up, and you want to log into Pipeline. When you go to Pipeline's login page, LastPass will put an icon next to the password area. Click the icon, and LastPass will ask you for permission to handle logging into Pipeline for you. Say "Yes," and every time you visit Pipeline from then on, LastPass will automatically fill in your username and password for you!
Logging into Facebook with LastPass enabled. Easy!
This may not sound like a big deal, since most browsers already offer the ability to remember usernames and passwords for you. However, LastPass will also store your usernames and passwords in a list - should you ever completely forget your login info for a website, you can retrieve it from LastPass!
As a final perk, LastPass also has the ability to generate extremely strong passwords for you. We've all seen that certain password are "weak" or "strong" - this basically refers to how hard it is for hackers to find your passwords. Strong passwords typically look something like this - "$!mmAz/mx4.-MVT," - that is to say, uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, punctuation marks, special characters, no dictionary words, and 16 characters or longer in length. Such passwords are nearly impossible to hack, but they are also impossible to remember. LastPass will generate extremely strong passwords such as these for you, and will even keep track of them for you and make sure that no two websites share the same password!
Password managers are great, but they still have one serious security flaw - if a hacker manages to find your LastPass username and password, he will be able to see the list of all your saved passwords for websites! To prevent this from happening there are two easy things you can do. First, make sure that you have a reasonably strong password to log in to LastPass. It's okay to make this password easier to remember than other passwords, but do try to throw in some uppercase and lowercase letters with a number, just to be safe.
Next, enable two-factor security on your LastPass account. To do this, simply provide your phone number to LastPass. The next time you log in to your LastPass account on your computer, LastPass will text a randomly generated code to your phone, and ask you to enter the code to proceed. Once you do this, you can register your computer as a trusted machine, so you won't have to go through the texting process any more. However, any time a hacker tries to login to your account from a different computer somewhere else in the world, he won't be able to enter the code sent to your phone in a text message!
This simple, one-time process makes it significantly
harder for bad guys to hurt you. It's fast, easy, and free too!
Whenever you have some free time, I would definitely recommend downloading a password manager to take care of your online accounts. LastPass is not the only option available, it's just the one I'm most familiar with. Whichever option you choose, I hope you will enjoy the extra security and convenience that password managers provide for free! :)
No comments: