How to keep all your passwords safe

With a password manager you only have to memorize a password and log in to keep all your passwords safe

To maintain safe passwords when experts recommend having a password for every account and service you use online, it can prove difficult to achieve.

Especially if you have to change them regularly and choose more complex passwords that make you easily run out of combinations of “12345678” or the birthdays of family members back home.

Just following these basic security procedures will ensure that most of us have more passwords than we can remember.

According to a recent study, on average an Internet user can have around 100 different passwords active at the same time, which makes it very easy to lose their account or open gaps in the protection of their data.

It is in this context that password management software appears to manage this wealth of passwords so that you don’t have to worry about security procedures or their regular renewal.

Secure passwords: opt for a password manager

These software were created to be able to safely store all the passwords that the user uses in the different websites or applications that he uses, but that is not its only function.

Software of this type is capable of offering a complete service in terms of the ecosystem that keeps passwords safe. It can, for example, generate strong passwords so you don’t have to go out of your way to invent your own.

For this, it resorts to extensive and complex combinations with letters (upper and lower case), numbers and/or less common characters that create passwords that no one will be able to crack.

Another advantage is that these software can offer alerts whenever they identify that one of your passwords is compromised, suggesting its replacement and ensuring that you do not repeat any password that already has a history of security failure.

Despite being cloud-based software, they use encryption to keep your passwords safe and many add functionality that few remember how useful it can be.

They can transmit the saved passwords to someone (relative or friend) that the user has designated in case of emergency or death.

How password management software works

Once installed, the software will ask its user if he wants him to record his passwords when he enters an application, website or service, keeping them in a kind of virtual safe.

In the future, whenever users want to access any of these virtual locations, they just need to log in first to the password manager and then browse freely, knowing that the software will automatically fill in the passwords they need.

This means that, instead of 100 passwords, you can memorize just one, knowing that all the others will be safe.

These managers are user friendly and do not weigh on your system’s performance, and can be used even on mobile devices, where it is even more important to never leave any login made by default so that no one else can get into your personal accounts if you pick up your mobile phone.

But, there’s no beauty without a downside, and password managers are no exception to the rule when it comes to having a downside.

The first concerns the fact that they may be victims of hackers who, when they manage to get into their password manager, will get not just one, but all their passwords.

A real risk, albeit unlikely, since it is minimized by the architecture created for these software and also if its user resorts to multifactor authentication to access the manager itself.

The other disadvantage is related to the fact that these software are stored in the cloud, which is an impediment for those who do not use this technology.

Secure passwords: free or paid manager

The password managers that we recommend below have both free and paid versions and it is natural to expect that the free versions will always present greater limitations in their functions.

Still, these free versions can be a good option to keep your passwords safe.

Paid password management software

Dashlane

• Includes VPN protection (encrypted Virtual Private Network to access the Internet)
• Save login history
• Scans accounts for weak and compromised passwords
• Scans the dark web for compromised accounts

Know prices here.

Keeper

• Family pack with 5 unlimited password vaults
• Application and browser extensions with cross-platform synchronization
• multifactor authentication
• Optional secure file and message storage
• Keeps a complete history of passwords and files

Know prices here.

free password managers

LogMeOnce

• Syncs with Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android
• Fill in credit card details and display card images
• simple interface
• SMS-based two-factor authentication is not free
• display ads

know more here.

Bitwarden

• Offers apps for all popular platforms and browsers
• Supports multifactor authentication
• Push share feature is effective
• open code
• Multi-factor authentication via hardware keys limited to paid users

know more here.