One of the easiest ways to keep your data and other Personally Identifiable Information secure in today’s world is to password-protect it with a complex password. To be clear, there are LOTS of different things you can do, but let’s focus on passwords for this post. For most of us, there are easily 20 or more things that require passwords, and because of how internet security works, those passwords have to be fairly complex and not the same as anywhere else. This means that we all need to be able to remember at least 20 or more passwords in order to operate our lives. This, frankly, is not doable. The only viable option is to use a secure password manager as a safe space to store all your passwords.
1) Too many goddamned passwords – and the prize for understatement of the year goes to….yeah. Look, if you’re like most of us, you will have a bunch of different accounts, and each one has a username and password. It is exceptionally dangerous to use the same password everywhere, so it’s essential to use a bunch of different passwords. If you use the same password everywhere (no matter how complex it is), you risk someone breaking it. If a bad actor were to figure out your one password, they would not only have access to the system they got into, but also to any other systems you used that same username and password on. Because you need multiple passwords and, like me, remembering more than one is impossible, having a secure location to organize them is critical.
2) Save your mental load – I recently had a discussion with a co-worker about why using a password manager makes it so much easier. We were discussing why I get the same thing for lunch every day, but I pivoted to the use of a password manager. In either case, the idea is to save your mental load for the critical things in your life. Trying to remember 18 billion different passwords and which one goes where is a pain, and using a password manager lets you save your brain space for the things in life you should be focusing on. The only time you need to worry about your password for any particular system is when you’re signing up for something. Once I’ve signed up for something, set up my username, password, and 2FA for that system, and then get all that information into my password manager, whatever the password was gets deleted from my brain. I don’t need to worry about it anymore because I know it’s in a secure location.
3) Saves you time – Most password managers offer apps, web interfaces, and browser extensions. I love using my password manager browser extension. It makes things SO MUCH easier because if you’re on your computer, you don’t have to get your phone out and open the app to find your password; you can get it from the extension. In some cases, they have an “Auto-fill” feature that automatically fills in required information when you reach a login page, so you don’t even need to copy and paste anything.
The thing about passwords is that, in cybersecurity terms, they are what poker players would call “Table stakes.” To do nearly anything with your technology, you need a username and a password. Because cybersecurity has become so complex (and rightfully so), the passwords you use need to be equally so. It’s difficult for people to remember as many passwords as they need, so having a password manager is just logical. I have spoken about Keeper in the past as the password manager I recommend, but if you feel comfortable with one of the others, I understand entirely. So long as you have a secure location that isn’t an Excel file or some other non-password-protected location, that will help keep you safe. Staying cyber safe, I think we can all agree, is the highest priority in a technological world.
Where do you keep your passwords?
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