Be Smart: Use a Password Manager!
Granted, password managers are not the most interesting things to read about, but you’ll be doing yourself a solid to slog through this post because it could save you some big bucks and big headaches. So slogging we will go…
A password manager is a software program that stores your passwords. But the magic is that all you have to remember is a single, simple “master password” to open the password manager program. Then the program does the heavy lifting by remembering and filling in those long gnarly passwords you really should use for every site.
When I ask our clients how many use a password manager, most will confess to having heard of them, but very few use them. You’d be smart to get one, if for nothing else than to protect access to your key financial websites. Many people refer to the Wirecutter website to research purchases and Wirecutter recommens 1Password. It doesn’t have a free version like many of the other managers offer, but the paid versions are not expensive.
Our firm has used 1Password for years, but recently we moved to Dashlane because it has unique features that allow us to share vendor website passwords with our Proxy clients.
And yes Microsoft and Google offer free password-manager-like features. And yes, even password manager programs have been attacked, but overall most people will be safer by using a password manager program.
