Tip of the Week: Revamp Your Password Policy with a Password Manager

Changing your password is a pain. After you’ve gone several months with the same one, it can be difficult to remember your new password. Despite this, it’s always recommended that you change your passwords often. Unfortunately, when you change all of your passwords often, it’s even easier to forget them. Instead of using a post-it note on your monitor, you should instead try using a password manager.

For those who aren’t entirely familiar with password managers, they are applications that can hold all of your login credentials in one secure location for later use. When you navigate your way to the login page of a site, the password manager automatically fills the forms with your credentials.This makes browsing the web much easier, and it makes remembering several complex passwords far more manageable.

For discussion’s sake, let’s take a look at one of the more popular consumer password managers: LastPass. It uses an interface designed for the end user to make dealing with passwords as simple as possible.

All you need to do is add an account’s information to the application, then enter the URL where the information applies. So long as the domain is correct, the credentials will fill in the forms. This way, password managers are capable of protecting you from potential phishing attacks utilizing fake domains that closely resemble those of secure sites. Once the credentials are entered, you can set whether or not you want to autofill the login boxes, as well as whether or not you want to integrate auto-login for the particular website.

Password Best Practices
Despite the immense security that password managers are capable of bringing to the table, you still want to be cautious; especially when it comes to your password manager’s password. It’s best to use a complex string of different characters, including numbers, symbols, and letters. If you're having trouble coming up with a password, you can do one of two things: use an online password generator, or randomly hit a bunch of keys. You’ll probably get a similar result.

It should be mentioned that, according to ZDNet, some password managers can have trouble on mobile devices. This means that users have to manually use the software in order to get their desired credentials. This minor inconvenience is offset by the incredible efficiency that password managers provide.

There’s a big difference between consumer and enterprise-level password managers, so businesses want to make sure they’re using only the best of the bunch for their solution. These business-grade password managers make sure that employees don’t leave the company and take all of your passwords with them.

For more tips on how to take advantage of the latest security solutions, give Directive a call at 607.433.2200.