Increasing your online security by using a Password Manager

Remembering Multiple Passwords is difficult for everyone, so why even bother to try?

If you use the same (or similar or simple) passwords for emails, banking, social media, computer, phone etc. then you are asking to get hacked or have your identity stolen (it happens to at least 14% of us per year)

You should ideally use a completely different password for every login and each one should:

be at least 14 characters long

use a random mix of four or more words

should not use popular phrases, for example, song lyrics or famous quotes

For most of us (our business included) this is too difficult, so we use a dedicated paid password manager which works in a browser on your computer, and as an app on your phone and devices.

It is not secure to use the same password for all of your accounts. With a password manager, you can have different passwords for all of your accounts while only having to remember your master password.

Our recommended dedicated Password Manager is “LastPass” from the “GoTo” company (formerly LogMeIn) but there are many more on the market but make sure you use one from a well known company, such as those found here.

LastPass has a FREE version for Single Users and Families and a paid version for businesses which start from A$6 per user per month. We suggested signing up for a free-trial before you consider purchasing. We trialed a number of products before selecting LastPass. We suggest you do the same.

Many people will already be using a form of password manager when they allow their computers browser to store their passwords (such as in Google Chrome or Apple Safari), we DO NOT recommend this and suggest that as soon as you employ a dedicated password manager you make sure that all passwords are deleted in whatever browser you use.

And don’t think you are immune because you choose to store your passwords across Apple devices using the “keychain” function.

Phishing websites are designed to try and fool you into giving up your passwords to popular sites. Once a scammer has this password, rest assured they will try using it (and variants such as *****123) to access your social media, webmail and internet bank accounts.

Our 4 main password tips

Make your passwords long and secure

Do not reuse the same password over multiple sites

Use a dedicated Password Manager

Enable multi-factor authentication on all accounts

If your company would like to employ a dedicated password-manager across your organisation and you would like some assistance. Please Contact us here.

More Help Here