How do you manage all these passwords?

Hello valued AnythingTech clients!

A very happy beginning of December to you. This time of year can be hectic and I do hope you have time to enjoy the lovely warm weather and abundance of beautiful trees here in Canberra.

This short communication is on the topic of password management. Previous newsletters have touched upon the topic of the importance of strong and unique passwords – feel free to revisit that topic here.

So we’re all in agreement: you need strong and unique passwords to minimise risk when you’re online. The side effect of making your passwords strong and unique, is that it is simply not possible to remember them, and you shouldn’t even try. If you can remember your passwords, they are likely not strong or unique enough.  

Which brings me to password management!

You have two options: write them down manually or use a password manager. Both solutions have pros and cons, what is important is you find a method that words for you.

Writing them down

Some people use a book – I suggest an address book so you can store them alphabetically. Make sure you don’t leave the book lying around, and definitely don’t store it near your computer.

You could also use an electronic “book”. I suggest an Excel spreadsheet as you can password protect that for added peace of mind.

An electronic password manager

There are a bunch of free password managers (the thing that opens a little pop-up window when you’re logging into something online and asks you if you want to save your password) that are great. Lots of devices have built in ones (e.g. Apple has an application called Passwords), your internet browser mostly likely has one (e.g. Chrome offers the Google Password manager) or you can pay for a password manager (e.g. LastPass). Some anti-virus software offers password storage as part of the software (e.g. Norton).

The most important thing?

You choose something you will use (and you use it) AND you have strong and unique passwords.

Best of luck and if you need a hand navigating password management feel free to be in touch!

Ruth