Using A Password Manager Drives Hackers Crazy!

Sometimes the solution to a common problem, like having poor password management (which puts you at risk of a hack), is to do something simple…like start using a password manager. “The single best thing someone can do to better protect their accounts is to choose and use a password manager,” explains Chris Parker, CEO of WhatIsMyIPAddress.com. “With that simple decision, you significantly improve your account security.” Most people don’t know it, but passwords didn’t start as “secret codes.” Instead, they started out as access codes at a workplace to allow individual employees access to the organization’s network. With their own “entry code” a person could log in and use the system when they needed to instead of waiting for the system to be free. Could you imagine waiting your turn to log into Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or the hundreds of other networks you use? Passwords have been the solution. So, right from the beginning, passwords were only needed to differentiate one user from another while providing network access. The problem was solved, but it created another one. The perpetual password problem. The problem is most people still create their own passwords (all of them or hundreds of them). And they don’t think much about security. In other words, they make themselves easy (or easier) targets for hackers. In an article we created for WhatIsMyIPAddress.com, we covered the ABCs of creating and using passwords . What’s amazing is that these mistakes have been the top mistakes ever since passwords were created to access online accounts, computers and networks. How to get smarter with your passwords. Here is a look at some things that you should be doing regarding your passwords to keep hackers out of your accounts! Using a password manager can create complex and virtually unbreakable passwords for you. If a person still thinks of passwords as a simple “access code”, it makes sense why they don’t bother to create something secretive and strong. Also, if someone hasn’t been hacked yet, they may feel invulnerable. We all know we could have a car accident one day, but the longer we go without one, the less likely we think it will happen. Then again, we still use seatbelts. It’s the same thing as being careless with passwords. A password manager remembers every password you have. Well, statistics say that some people have as many as 100 passwords. The average number might be 25 or more. If you’re creating unique passwords for every account, as you’re supposed to do, you have to store all these passwords SOMEWHERE.  So, where are yours stored? In your phone, on your browser, in a notebook somewhere? The real question is, could someone find them and log into your accounts? The likelihood is you’re using very simple passwords or versions of the same password over and over. Also, you’re probably not changing your password too often. Those aren’t good habits. You’ll have to find a smart place to store all your unique passwords, whether you have 15, 25 or 100 or more. A password saves you time when you log in. Let’s say you created 50 complex, impossible-to-guess and unlikely hackable passwords. You decided to write them all down—the account identifiers (banks, credit cards, social media accounts, etc.) in one place. You might be tempted to carry a little black book with you, but that would be too risky. Or you could have someone else, a family member or friend, get you the passwords you need when you need one, but that is a breakdown in security. The point is, you’d want to store them in a safe place so no one else could get to them. A password manager is a vault with a “combination”/password only you know. In real life and in real-time, that just isn’t practical and wouldn’t work. The answer is, you would need to carry a vault with you so that you have access to all your passwords when you need one. Also, that’s the only way you could make sure no one has access to the combination to open the vault but you. Well, there is a way to store all your passwords in a vault —have that vault with you at all times. Using a password manager is the solution to that. A password manager is a virtual vault that travels with you around the clock. And to open the vault where all your passwords are stored safely, you enter the one and only very secret password. As we’ve been stating throughout this article and illustrated in the infographic above—a password manager is the best way for you to create, save and protect all your passwords. So, here’s what your job is; start putting pure protection on your accounts. Keep Hackers Out of Your Accounts. Below, is a link to an article that lists the top password managers. Click the link and start exploring. It’s that easy, and one of the smartest moves you can make to protect your accounts, your privacy and your identity.