Password Managers

Hey all!!

We have so many online accounts these days and it's hard to remember all the passwords. So let’s talk about password managers and should you use them.

Passwords with 8 characters or less are not so secure these days. Anyone with a decent laptop or PC, can use cracking tools and password dictionaries to crack passwords. Passwords with 8 characters or less take only 30 seconds to 1 minute to crack depending upon the processing power of the machine. So if your passwords are of 8 characters or less, consider changing them and read my ”Which word?...Password” article to get some information about strong passwords and how to create them.

Ok, now moving on our actual topic “Password Managers”.
If you have 10 or less online accounts, I would suggest remembering the passwords instead of using a password manager.
Here is one tip for remembering the passwords; choose a long sentence with some special characters and numbers. Ok let's use the same password, we created earlier in ”Which word?...Password” article as an example.
“i am riding an elephant” was the sentence and “I@mriding@neleph@nt12” was the password.
So now let's modify that password a little bit. Say, we want to set a password for website blog.com. Now we take our password “I@mriding@neleph@nt12” and add “#blg” somewhere in the original password. Now the password for blog.com website will be “I@mriding@neleph@nt12#blg”.
Now using this method you can create as many passwords as you like, keeping one unique sentence as the base of your password.

Now if you have more accounts then you can think of using a password manager but there is a caveat, you still have to remember one master password to unlock the password vault.
There are many password managers but choosing them is a bit difficult.

• You have to trust the company or software, because you are storing all of your passwords there.
• If you forget your master password, you lose access to your password vault.
• If someone hacks this software then your passwords may get leaked.

Now I won't tell you which password manager I am using for obvious reasons, but here are some reputable and popular password managers.

• DashLane
• Keeper Password Manager
• Lastpass
• Zoho Vault

And many more

Above list has no particular order.
Above password managers have both paid and freemium pricing.
In freemium model, you get basic password vault for free, but lacks some features like multiple device synchronisation and more enhanced encryption (in some password managers)

You can do some research about each password manager mentioned above by visiting official websites. I will give you some tips that I have learnt so far.

• Never store your important passwords, pin numbers, and other important information like ATM Pin, Banking password, your signature, bank account details, UPI pin etc. You have to remember all these important passwords and pins.

• Keep the usage of password manager close to minimum.

• Keep a separate copy of your passwords outside of your password manager.

• If you are storing those passwords somewhere on your computer, encrypt the file or folder.

• Backup your passwords and store them securely (don't forget to encrypt the folder or file) on another hard drive or pendrive and keep that device safe and locked.

Many password managers come with a password generator. These password generators can generate complex and long strings and your password manager automatically sets that string as your password. If you can't create a strong password by yourself then use these password generators. You can specify the length and character set and the password generator will generate a password accordingly.

I create strong passwords by myself and rarely make use of password managers.
But if you can’t create strong passwords by yourself, use of password manager is always safer and wiser than using the same weak passwords over and over for multiple accounts.

I highly insist on keeping password manager usage to a minimum and remember your passwords or if you want to use password managers go for paid ones.

Please don't download and use some free password manager app available on App store or on Play store.

I request you to choose password managers carefully.

Disclaimer:

Above information is only for informative purposes.
We are not responsible for any loss caused due to application or use of above information in any form.
The information given above may vary, and it may be incomplete.
This Blog is purely meant for EDUCATION purposes ONLY.

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