Is It Safe To Use Free Password Manager For PC, and Android?

The cyber threat is a constant headache for both small, and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). While most executives know how strong passwords play pivotal roles in preserving their online safety, very few are implementing best practices to keep them safe from cyber-attacks.

This was summed up a long time ago by data from troyhunt. According to the report, 86% of passwords used online are terrible! That's to mean; they're passwords that have appeared in data breaches in more than one occasion.

Another report by Dashlane showed that online users registered over of 100 accounts on a single email. One thing that’s clear is that you can’t cram over 100 different passwords! Having them on a single piece of paper is also a significant risk since the paper could either be stolen or you can displace it.

What about having a common password for all your online accounts? Well, it would be easy to remember but it would open a landmark of gaps for hackers to plant attacks on you.

And, did you know that putting your clients' data at risk through credential stuffing won't make you look like any innocent corporate victim? The FTC maintains that if you store critical client data, it is upon you to take stern steps that will help reduce the risks due to credential stuffing.

This is where the password managers for PC, and Android comes into play. They help generate different strong passwords with random characters made of uppercase, and lowercase letters, and symbols and store them for you.

So what are password managers?
A password manager is a software application programmed to keep and manage long-string passwords. Once you create a password, it gets encrypted into the software.

To gain access to the passwords stored in the manager, you'll need a 'master password' for the software.

All your eggs in one safe basket
In a recent survey on 2000 consumers in the US and UK, approximately 75% of people reused unique passwords for multiple accounts. Besides, many of them never changed their passwords for more than five years. This translated to over forty percent of them suffering data breaches.

What's interesting though is that 80% of the consumers claimed that they valued their online safety but still reused the weak duplicate passwords that could easily be hacked by cyber attackers.

One thing that is for sure is that it isn’t easy to remember multiple passwords for different accounts. The password manager now assumes the role of storing all your 'eggs' in one place.

Are free password managers for PC, and Android safe?

Now, it is almost impossible to guarantee the reputability of free password managers out there. A good password manager should, however, have these vital security features.

1. Support fingerprint, and face ID verification for mobile devices. This will help you lock out unauthorized users, and only allow trusted personnel access.
2. Should have built-in security alerts to give timely notifications in case of suspicions of a suspected data breach attempts.
3. Should support online data storage features that will help you store sensitive information online.
4. Your password manager should be encrypted with unique encryption keys that are unique to you. Not even the company should have an idea of what your password is. Importantly, the encryption should also be strong enough so that in the event of the company suffering security breaches, your master password remains intact.
5. The password manager should also help you keep extra account information like the answer to security questions, and recovery codes, etc.
6. It should have the two-factor authentication to boost security. This could be SMS-2FA to reduce the chances that the hacker would masquerade as you and access your online accounts, and networks, etc.
7. The password manager should also have a built-in sharing feature that will help you share critical information with your employees and loved ones with ease etc.

Major risks with password managers

While password managers can help you store all your login information in one safe place, they also come with their own set of flaws.

For one, they store a lot of information which makes them so enticing to hackers. From the passwords to the credit card details etc., they also have the autofill features which could be targeted by the online thieves.

It's also worth pointing out that popular password managers like 1Password and Dashlane have suffered data breaches in the past which led to sensitive client data like email addresses getting leaked to the attackers.

The culprits? Poor browser extensions, and spoofing attacks, etc. While these would open gaps for hackers to launch attacks on you like spoofing attacks etc., the secure encryption on your master password should however not allow them access to the master password.

Bottom line.
To keep yourself safe, be sure to turn off the autofill feature browser extensions which would make you vulnerable to attacks when you visit malicious sites, update the software regularly, use longer, secure, and different passwords, and most importantly, your password manager should also not have master password recovery.