Why are you not using a password manager?
rj frometa
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
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Passwords have become the bane of our internet connected existence. Most people probably do not consider the number of passwords they must keep track of. Websites, forums, banks, school … the list continues.
Do not use the same password everywhere
Everyone hears that same advice but many of us are slow to heed. I know that in the beginning, 20 or more forums that I logged into, were all using the same password. Not very smart I know, but I could never come up with a way to manage my password list.
For years, I had a spreadsheet of log-in details for all the sites that I accessed and I carried it around with me. As I became more internet entrenched, the number of passwords increased. The list reached the 500 mark and I knew I was in trouble.
One of my passwords was made public
Contrary to what we want to believe, all forums and websites aren’t as secure as we would imagine. One forum in particular had failed to upgrade its software to the latest version when a security weakness was discovered and promoted. Hackers were quick to find copies of the unpatched software on line, and captured usernames, emails and passwords – all stored in plain text. Naturally, they shared their “gold” with the world on the dark web.
I received hundreds of spam emails telling me of my hacked username and password – and unfortunately for me, the information they supplied was accurate. They were kind enough to help me remove my passwords from the list if I sent them bitcoin. I spent days trying to recover and change passwords on the other sites and forums that had the same shared password.
I learned my lesson
I knew there was a better way, I just didn’t know how to implement a better and more secure method of controlling my passwords. There was no doubt in my mind – I needed a password manager. But which one? A quick search displayed more than a dozen different password managers.
What is a password manager
Password managers are secure programs that store passwords in an encrypted file either on your computer, cloud storage, or the server of the company providing the password manager service.
The key to a password manager is that you only need to remember ONE password to access all of the others you have. And since you only have to access one password, you can create very difficult and complex passwords for all the sites that you access.
Most password managers work like this: when you visit a site requiring a password already stored, you enter your main password into the pop-up of the password manager and then your secret username and password are automatically pushed to the log in page – and you are in!
My search for a password manager that I could use
As I mentioned there are dozens of password managers that although similar, function differently. I downloaded at least 5 different ones until I found the one that made me warm and fuzzy.
Well, it didn’t really make me feel warm and fuzzy – but it make me feel like I understood how it worked and how I would make it work for me.
Enpass Password Manager
Enpass was easy for me to understand, and worked with every browser, as well as my Android phone (Iphones are banned from my house by the way, but that is the subject for a different post).
The key selling factor behind my choice to use Enpass (besides the simplicity) is that it stored the encrypted file on MY cloud storage – and NOT the server of the company. If they got hacked, my file wasn’t available.
I still have Windows 7 machines (yes, I know how bad that is) and I needed a password manager that worked with Windows 10 and backwards to 7. Enpass had that covered.
I travel often around the world and I needed a way to access my passwords on public computers that are not necessarily very secure. Enpass has a portable version where the program and passwords are stored (encrypted) on a USB that I could travel with.
The main password file is stored on my cloud drive and regularly updates and receives updates from all computer and phones that I have installed Enpass on. Pretty cool actually.
And finally, it is fast and easy. “Easy” was important because this was new to me and I’ve never been called the sharpest tool in the shed.
Password security is becoming more important every day.
Every day in the news you read about companies, and credit card companies and media companies all being hacked and personal information being made public.
You also read about celebrities whose Iphones were allegedly hacked and all of their private photos shared with the world. The truth is, these celebrities used easy to guess passwords that they had a connection to.
Perhaps their dog’s name, or their child’s birthday, or their favorite type of spaghetti noodle … regardless of what they chose, it was too weak.
A password manager prevents that from happening by allowing you to choose complex passwords such as [j;keK*#;kddO(03]. No one is going to break that password.
And as long as you keep your master password long and complex, your passwords remain safe. It is much easier to remember a long and complex password when you only need to remember one.
Learn from my mistakes
Don’t wait until your passwords begin floating around on the web. I’m lucky that I didn’t use any of the same passwords for my banking or I could have had a financially devastating experience.
Password managers are the way to go to protect yourself in this internet dependent world. You will need to use one eventually – why not start now?
Hi, I am THE OLD GUY. I had a real name once, but people kept calling me the old guy, so I decided to own it. I have a great job writing about any subject that gets my interest for LoveWorks.com, including health, relationships and technology. There are no affiliate links in this post, and I did not receive any compensation for writing about this product. I wrote about it because I use it daily. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through LoveWorks or Twitter (@loveworksdotcom)
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