Your identity is perhaps your most important financial asset. Despite all the press given to recent cybersecurity breaches and the issue of identity theft, it seems many people still don’t give the issue the attention it deserves. Even some people who should know better (see Donald Trump tops 2017’s list of worst password offenders).
Helping my clients keep their financial assets safe is always a top concern of mine, so I feel the need to keep this issue top of mind.
The latest breach that should have everyone squirming is a vulnerability found that allows hackers to access passwords you may have stored in your browser.
OK, I understand that there is no way to remember the hundreds of different passwords you need to access hundreds of different websites. After all YOU AREN’T REUSING PASSWORDS TO ACCESS MULTIPLE SITES, ARE YOU???? But your browser, while convenient, is not the most secure place to store passwords.
A more secure option is online password managers like Dashlane, and Password Box. There are several others which are well regarded (readers with helpful suggestions feel free to comment). These tools are built from the ground up with security in mind. In fact, their very existence depends on bulletproof security. You enter one password to access your password manager, and then the program will dish up the needed password every time you try to log into a website. Since there is no need to remember, you can make up unique, secure passwords without fear of forgetting. Or you can just allow the program to create a secure password on its own.
Along with developing a healthy skepticism of almost any communication delivered over the internet that instructs you to click on a link, installing a password manager is one of the strongest steps you can take to secure your personal information on the web.