From streaming entertainment to social media to our online bank accounts and software, we are inundated every day with the need to create and remember new passwords. In fact, one study revealed that Americans have an average of 130 online accounts registered to a single email address. And what are the chances that those 130 passwords are each unique and difficult to crack? Slim to none.
You’ve probably heard about the infamous Yahoo breach that came to light last year, in which hackers stole the credentials and other sensitive information of more than 1 billion users. For people who used their Yahoo password for other sites, those accounts were also compromised.
So how, exactly, can we all be expected to create and remember an average of 130 unique passwords?
The best solution available today, offering both convenience and security, is a password manager. These applications address all the above issues. Password managers come in the form of lightweight plugins for web browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and can automatically fill in your credentials after saving them in an encrypted database.
The major benefit of using a password manager is that you only need to remember a single master password. This allows you to easily use unique, strong passwords chosen for each of your online accounts. Just remember one strong password and the manager will take care of the rest.
Avoid these common password security risks:
- Typing passwords to login each time can be dangerous in itself. Malicious keyloggers designed to secretly monitor keystrokes can record your passwords as you type them. (You can eliminate these with good antivirus software.)
- Remembering multiple passwords, especially if you have carefully picked a password that is complicated. Most people tend to use the same or similar passwords for different accounts, which means that if one password is exposed, criminals can log into all those accounts.
- Storing passwords in a document or writing them down, which creates a very high risk of being affected by a breach or simply losing the information.
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