Are You Secure?
If this post feels like a broken record that’s because it is. The number of posts and articles written about strong passwords is legion.
Thats because it’s important.
Identity theft has been on the rise for the past decade, and really hit high gear as the pandemic trapped everyone at home. Millions of phishing scams, spam, trojan horse and payload emails are sent each day. You are most certainly receiving them, hopefully sent directly to your spam folder by your email provider. So how do you lessen the chance that you will become a victim of these scams?
There are many answers but the easiest one to implement is to use a password manager. The chief reason people use and reuse the same password is they “don’t want to have to remember so many passwords”. That’s completely understandable. That’s where a password manager will come in handy. You no longer have to remember dozens of passwords. Let the application do the heavy lifting.
A password manager such as LastPass, Dashlane, or 1Password, will keep your passwords safe and secure within your ‘vault’. You will only need to remember one password, the one you will use to login to your password manager. In fact, the best password for your manager, is a passPHRASE. Something that will take a long time to crack. Any phrase you can remember should work. “iLovec0ldFRENCHfries” would take a while to crack (actually more than 2 million years). You can use the graphic below to determine how long it would take to break your password/phrase.
Using a password manager allows you to use lengthy passwords or phrases because you do not have to remember them. Want to use YqTOG*B41J$Fv5@FFHaF%W as your email password? Easy, copy it from your manager and hit save. By the way, that password would be off the chart above at 22 characters. No need to remember that (as if you could, rainman) or write it down somewhere. It’s safely stored in your manager.
Each of the managers I mentioned above have browser plug-ins which makes them even easier to use. Download them and use them every time you use and/or create a new password. Your peace of mind is worth it.
Questions about how to stay safe or need help?
