Password manager can help secure your passwords, but how secure are they? Why password management is so important. Let’s try to answer some of those questions.
Despite the emergence of new methods of identity verification like fingerprint scanning and Facial recognition, passwords remain the principal method of gaining access to protected services and databases.
According to some estimates, the average person’s use of passwords is expected to rise to over 200 accounts this year. With the current advisory on increasing the robustness of passwords with the use of uppercase and lower-case letters, digits, special characters, and restrictions on reusing them, remembering all the passwords can be an impossible task.
This is exactly the reason why password managers have been devised.
What Does A Password Manager Do?
Password managers are complex programs that are built to securely store all the different usernames and passwords you need to use to log into your online accounts. You now need to remember only one password to log in to the password manager, which then automatically unlocks the account you desire to access.
Advantages of Using Password Managers
What are the benefits of using a password manager?
A password manager can generate long and complex passwords that are hacker-resistant. Also, they will store your passwords in an encrypted forms. But, there are more advanced benefits of using password managers.
No need to remember multiple usernames and passwords:
The principal advantage of using a password manager is that you do not need to memorize passwords for each of your accounts and can access all of them with only one master password at the front-end. The password manager stores all the different passwords that you need to sign in to your accounts automatically.
Enables use of more long and complex passwords:
Because you no longer need to memorize all the different passwords, you can now very easily devise unique passwords that are both long and complex making it difficult for them to be hacked. Quite often password managers also have password generation capabilities, which means that you can create completely random and secure passwords on demand and store them instantly for effective data breach protection.
Help Quicken the Login Process
Many contemporary password managers also have the facility of auto-filling the passwords, which mean that they will automatically select the correct password from its database and insert it into the login field.
Makes Possible Sharing Passwords Securely
Some password managers’ permit sharing of specific passwords with the encryption remaining the same; however, you can still control the third-party access. According to forbes, sharing the recovery key generated by the password manager is a good way of ensuring that your family can access your accounts in case something happens to you while ensuring that no one can access your accounts under normal circumstances.
Enables Password Access on Multiple Devices
Unarguably one of the biggest advantages of using a password manager is that you can now access all your passwords for different accounts on multiple devices. Since the facility is online, you can log in and access all the services through the browser. This means that you can move between different devices across multiple locations even without needing to make a list of the passwords that be compromised at any given point in time.
The consequences of loss of confidentiality of personal information can be varied and often quite severe. Some of the top reasons for keeping your personal information secure are:
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To Prevent Identity Theft
In simple terms, identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information to pretend to be you in the online world. By assuming your online identity, they can commit mischief of various kinds including financial fraud, tax fraud, or even post content on your social media accounts that can damage your reputation and land you into problems with your employers, college administrators, the police, and more. While there are very many ways of keeping your personal information secure, the golden rule is never to part with information unless it is really necessary and that too only those you trust.
To Prevent Financial Theft
It is important not to share your bank account information with anyone or use online banking using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Shop only on sites that have Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and never save your debit or credit card information on shopping sites. Being alerted to skimming devices at ATMs and POS terminals can help significantly even though you are protected by the advanced security feature set that comes with Watson, IBM’s popular artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
Avoid Being Robbed
Usually, houses get burgled when they are empty. This means that you need to be more careful not to avoid posting details of your work hours or that you are going on a vacation on social media. It can be exciting to let your friends know that you are going on a vacation to Greece during the school holidays but remember it is also an open invitation to burglars to visit your home.
Prevent Your Career from Being Sabotaged
If your social media accounts get hacked, it can not only cause you severe embarrassment, but your employers may not be exactly pleased by your purported social behavior. It is usual for potential employers to conduct background checks and you can have them rejecting you because of inappropriate content on your social media accounts that you may not even be aware of.
Protect Yourself from Legal Proceedings
Your digital footprint in the public domain is there for everyone to see. What you post online can be used against you or to defend you in any legal proceedings. There are known instances of people losing court cases because of what they had posted online.
Conclusion
The threat of your online account security being breached, and your identity being stolen is an ever-present danger. When you have multiple accounts, it can be very difficult to memorize long and complex passwords that are hacker-resistant. Using a password manager is a good way of simplifying the process and permitting the use of robust passwords without needing to keep track of them.
