Passwords and Data Privacy

A strong password should contain at least 8 characters, 1 uppercase letter, various numbers and symbols, and in some cases even hieroglyphics or the blood of your firstborn. I jest, of course, but sometimes the simple act of password creation feels more like an overly complicated annoyance, then a helpful safeguard.

Let’s have a look at why this (often tedious) process is important and a few easy ways to create strong passwords.

It’s crucial to remember that passwords are the only thing that stand between hackers and your online accounts.

Although some of my accounts may only be used to showcase pictures of my cats (Fluffball and Dexter), others store important information like my medical records, home address and even my credit card details.

Whichever it may be, without passwords, this information would be accessible to everyone, which is something I really don’t want. Although password creation might often feel annoying, time-consuming and meaningless, I realised that I had to make a mindshift. And you should too. Passwords aren’t just something that’s used to log you in to your accounts. Their main purpose is to keep your data safe.

An analysis of the 100,000 most common, recurring breached passwords confirmed that “123456” is the undefeatable king of popular passwords. The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has found that 23.3 million user accounts worldwide used exactly that, placing “12345678” in second place with 7.7 million users.

So how do you come up with an easy-to-remember, but hard-to-guess password that’s different for each for your accounts? Password managers. These virtual assistants help me make the task of password creation easy, manageable and less time-consuming.

What is a password manager?

Essentially a password manager application or web extension is a tool that stores all your passwords in an encrypted vault. It’s very handy, because all your different types of passwords can be unlocked and accessed with one single identification. This makes it a whole lot easier to use different passwords throughout all of your accounts.

You can also let the tool generate passwords for you and automatically change them every 3 months, making it harder for hackers to access your data.

There are many options out there to choose from (some are free and some not), so it is completely up to you and your budget which one you are going to use.

Here are my top 5 recommendations:

LastPass:

Once you’ve set up your master password, LastPass allows you to import all of your saved login credentials (usernames and passwords). The restricted version is completely free and you can upgrade anytime if you wish to.

Dashlane:

The software stores your passwords locally in an encrypted vault, or automatically syncs them across your devices. With its digital wallet, you can also purchase from various online retailers without having a previously set up account. It’s free but also has a paid version.

1Password:

A very popular and extremely safe password manager featuring a username and password generator. The digital wallet allows you to save everything from login credentials to credit card information, and the developers are so confident in their security that they offered anyone who can break their wall a reward of $100,000. It costs $3 per month.

Keeper Security:

With the Keeper password manager, you have more flexibility with regards to the data you want to store, varying from login credentials to even your driver’s license number, passport info, and other important records. It uses 2-factor-authentication and is free.

True Key by Intel:

True Key uses fingerprint or facial recognition login processes as an alternative to the master password. When you log in to a new account, the app is smart enough to auto-generate a new password and save your information.

I personally use Dashlane, because I find the interface extremely user-friendly. To me, it’s also very important that the whole process of setting up the application and getting started is fast and easy.

Going forward, the Global Citizen Foundation is proud to announce we are closely working together with VIA, a platform that secures your digital footprint and strives to create a global data wallet. With the rapidly growing amount of IoT devices, individuals lose track of who can access and use their data or even sell it to third parties. Do you want to take back control of your data? Click here to sign up for early access and to be one of the first to test out VIA’s new product.

“We believe the ownership of personal data is a human right and the management of personal data should be an effortless experience.”