Password Security

by Greta Spear

Let's talk about passwords. As you know, having a secure password is very important, but more important than that is keeping that password secure. What do I mean? Have you ever used the same password twice? Do you have one password for all shopping sites just to keep things convenient? If you have answered yes you are not alone and your passwords are NOT secure.

"Why is this an issue? I don't give my password to anyone and it is 10+ characters long.  I have never had an account hacked."

Certainly sounds like you are doing the right thing except there is another way hackers can get your password. By hacking lost and outdated sites hackers steal lists of usernames, emails, and passwords. In this case, if you have reused the same password over multiple accounts then the hacker now has all the information it needs to exploit that and take over your accounts.

  • Is that username, email and password the same to any of your email accounts? If so, then they could log in change the password and lock you out of your email.
  • Do you keep a credit card on file at any shopping sites? Then that credit card could be compromised.
  • Do you use the same password for work? Then your work accounts and through them your company could be compromised.
"How do I keep track of all the different passwords?"

We recommend using a password manager. A password manager stores, generates, and have the ability to update passwords for you.  The best part about a password manager, you are back to remembering only one password! Our preferred provider is Bitwarden, it is what we use for our staff and it's also free for personal use. But Lastpass, 1Password, and others are all good options as well.  

Using a dedicated password manager is preferable to using the built in password managers for Google, Firefox or Apple. As people will point out, their main focus is not their password managers so things may get over looked. They are a great starting point but less reliable and have fewer functionalities.

As George Orwell said, In 1984, “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”

Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash