This may not be a question you ask yourself often, but how much time do you spend every year updating passwords on every device or online account? Or get locked out of those accounts and have to create new passwords on the fly (which you will inevitably forget and get locked out again)? If your answer to this question is “not a lot”, then you’re either living the life of a digital nomad, or there’s a good chance you have some very basic passwords that can be shared across multiple accounts.
While we are all immersed in passwords, the IT industry is already making the leap towards a passwordless future. Today, Apple, Google, and Microsoft either use facial recognition or have their own 2FA (two-factor authentication) process that prompts you to unlock other devices. Tech giants know that when it comes to their passwords, most consumers are sitting on an insecure house of cards. But for now, passwords are an inevitable part of living in a digital world. All we can do is navigate it as safely and securely as possible.
The best way you can do to protect all your accounts right now is to create custom, complex strings of illegible code, or passphrases (the entire sentence used as a password) that are unique to each account. The only problem is that it’s impossible to remember all those different passwords at once when you try to access your account.
One of the worst things you can do is write down all your passwords in a notebook.
Credit: Judit Peter
Still, the future we all look forward to is no passwords, no frustrating security loops and account resets. While we don’t have it yet, there is a way to reduce your daily password total to one. We have encrypted password managers these days. These basically act as digital vaults to protect all your different passwords on all your devices, all under one master password. This means you can set super long, complex passwords (some password managers even generate them for you) for all your accounts without having to remember them all.
Password managers, especially those with browser extensions and connected smartphone apps, can store all your passwords when you submit them, and automatically fill in password fields whenever you visit a website, saving you lot of time. There are many such products on the market, but their prices and feature sets can vary widely. Bitdefender Password Manager is a popular choice and comes with the strongest known encryption algorithm available. It also gives you autofill options and is multi-platform so it can store and organize all your passwords on all your devices.
While there are many full-featured password managers on the market, Bitdefender Password Manager is Bitdefender Advanced Security software package, which bundles it with all of Bitdefender’s major security products, such as antivirus and VPN. If you’ve already paid for a separate security suite and are terrified of subscribing to a password manager again, it’s a great way to include password protection in that cost. Bitdefender Advanced Security However, it is worth having because it is currently PCMag’s Editors’ Choice For security suites, so not only will you be entering a lifestyle with few passwords, but you’ll also have some of the best cybersecurity available.
