You’ve heard me preach the importance of using strong passwords before, and I’ve given you tips on how to create passwords that are hard to guess and hard to ‘solve’ by password-cracking tools in the hands of hackers. (https://corecubed.com/blog/entry/lock-down-your-passwords-for-better-protection)
And while I stand by creating strong passwords, I’ve learned from experience that there are two common points of failure in using a strong password system. Strong passwords are too hard to remember, so people tend to either:
- Use the same password for everything, or
- Forego creating strong passwords in favor of ones that are easy to remember
Well, there is some good news! A handful of companies have started making tools to assist you with the tedious task of managing your passwords in a safe, secure, strong manner.
My favorite password management tool is called LastPass. For free, you can create an account with LastPass and install their software on your computer. It will integrate itself into your web browser, where it will reside and start to learn what websites you enter your passwords in. Securely encrypted, LastPass will remember all of the information you enter when logging into any website where you have an account. It will ask you if you’d like to save the login info and make it easier to log in next time using their “Auto Login” feature. Never again will you have to type in your login info or remember your password for a website. All you need to remember is your password for LastPass – but be sure to make it a strong one!
The beauty of this is that you can then access your saved passwords from other computers and devices: your laptop, your iPhone, your iPad, etc. You can even use LastPass to generate strong passwords for you with the click of a button.
Additionally, LastPass lets you set up form-fill profiles so that when you come to a website that requires you to fill out a bunch of personal information (name, address, phone, email, etc.), LastPass will automatically fill it out for you. You can even create multiple form-fill profiles in case you want to change up your information occasionally. For example, you can create one for your work address and one for your home address.
With these sorts of tools now available to you for the low cost of free, there is no reason for you not to have strong passwords on everything. Stay safe, stay secure, and stay sane! So what are you waiting for?
What other web tips would you like to see on the corecubed blog? Let us know in the comments.