Your passwords are safe with me
Well not me, but rather password managers.
Everything personal on the internet requires a login; that includes any emails, social media, banking information, etc. After a while, It’s easy to start re-using any passwords for the sake of convenience, I mean who really wants to memorize 10 different passwords for each website? But the emphasis on password protection and strength has been increasing, so much so that when you sign up for apps or websites, they will give you certain requirements for passwords (i.e. must have at least 1 number, 1 capital, a special character, etc).
Passwords are there for a reason: to protect your information. It’s your very own security system to prevent others from accessing your data so nobody but you can access has access. For the sake of convenience, you may find yourself re-using your passwords or using the good ol’ “password” for a password, but that needs to stop!
Using weak passwords or re-using passwords makes you more susceptible to hackers and according to the University of Ottawa , if a virus gets into your account, it can also spread through the network.
The typical tips for a strong password are the following:
- Make sure your password is about 10 characters in length
- Use different passwords for everything
- Don’t be predictable! No birthdays, name of spouse, favourite sports team, etc.
- Mix it up a lil bit; play around with the alphabet, numbers, punctuation and special characters
- Put capitals for random letters like, MeLob1Te5
Complexity is key!
Although those tips can make your password strong and keep away the hackers, I understand it may be difficult to remember all of them, especially if you have many web accounts. An alternative I would like to suggest is the use of a password manager, which beats the “pen and paper” method by a long shot.
Password managers allow you to store all of your different passwords onto one application, which is secured by a master password that is required to gain access. So really, you just need to remember one tough password and can avoid the stress of your brain short circuiting from all the thinking and remembering.
Using PC Magazine I stumbled upon Sticky Password which was awarded Editor’s Choice. What attracted me to this app was the fact that it was Mac compatible and claimed to “secure data like the military” using AES‑256 encryption. There’s also the option of password backup using the cloud in case you lose your device!
It was a little confusing at first; this was my first time using a password manager and so I had to play around to get the hang of it, but it did not take long. The application was not complex-looking, making it easier to learn my way around it and more importantly, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Upon logging into Facebook, I was notified by Sticky Password to save it and it was as easy as that.
Personally, I highly urge everyone to use this tool. There are lots of options available suited to different needs and devices. This is an extra step one can take to not only making password management easier, but also to help protect your personal data! If that’s not reason enough, I don’t know what would be.
