This post provides information on password managers for personal and small business use. Please share with any business associates, friends or family you think can benefit from these tips.
Password managers automatically remember and fill in passwords for you. And they do that with an architecture designed to deliver this convenience with more security.
You probably already know the basic benefit of password managers. They are the only way we can deal with the overwhelming number of passwords we are all expected to use. Password managers mean you only have to remember one login.
The best password managers come with many other features. For example, most will help you automatically generate very secure passwords for each site you visit. So now you will never need to reuse a password. Since you are not reusing passwords,if a site you use gets breached and a password stolen by bad guys they will not be able to use that on other sites you use. Good password managers will also give you a head’s up if they find out a site you use gets breached. And the best of them can also help you automatically update passwords used on sites.
Password managers can also make it easier and more secure for you to use credit cards online. With a good password manager, you can store the credit card info in your password manager instead of the ecommerce site you want to do business with. This is more secure and easier too.
You have to pick a password manager with a well designed architecture, one that will make it harder for bad guys to compromise all your passwords at once (the nightmare scenario). Also, if you run a business, you will want one that gives you enterprise features but also allows your employees to leverage the password manager at home. Good password managers have options like this since they know that keeping employees secure at home is good for everyone.
Three that we believe fit the criteria of secure architectures and options good for both home users and small businesses include: Dashlane, LastPass and 1Password.
Since these systems are all adding new features and improving, they are growing similar feature sets. It is hard offering a methodology for selecting one of these top three. We have the most experience with Dashane and have no problem recommending it to any small business or home user. But the others are very good as well. One suggestion would be to ask friends, family and co-workers which password managers they use and why. Get into a discussion on how easy the password manager is to use since that is important.
A final note: Keep in mind that password managers can really really help, but there are no silver bullets in security. You still need to keep your systems patched and will still need two factor authentication and need to track the many other cybersecurity best practices and lessons learned you know you should be watching. But a good password manager will make a positive difference. Consider it a “must-do” in the modern world.
