My password manager: 13 reasons why.

I can’t imagine managing my online world without a password manager. Using a reputable password manager is guaranteed to reduce password frustration and over the years it has protected me and simplified my life. If you don’t already use a Password Manager, I recommend trying one. I suspect that just like me, you won’t be able to believe how you survived without it.

I decided on LastPass in 2012 because it had excellent customer reviews and was reputable, affordable and easy to use. I’ve had no need to explore other options however I’d encourage you to explore other options before finalizing your decision.

Factors that influenced my decision to switch to my Password Manager:

1. Trust:
   • My password manager is secure and encrypted.
2. Reviews:
   • My password manager, LastPass, has a huge volume of positive reviews.
3. My Memory Limitations:
   • I only have to memorize a single extremely secure password. (For those who can’t do that, only one password needs to be written down and kept in a secure location.)
4. A built-in password generator:
   • The password generator within LastPass allows me to customize each password in terms of length, ease of pronunciation and ease of reading.
   • Check boxes let me select between Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers or Symbols or a combo of these.
     

     A full length green bar indicates an extremely secure password.

5. The ability to share my password manager with my family:
   • Lastpass Families allows me to securely share login credentials for some sites while keeping other site credentials private. Since family members don’t have to type each character of the password when using LastPass Families, I can use long, complex and secure passwords on the sites we share too.
6. Priority customer support:
   • Telephone support was helpful with setup and a question or two I had when I added LastPass Families.
7. Ability to store payment cards and a multitude of other sensitive information:
   • My ability to securely and safely store sensitive information such as credit cards, medical ID’s, driver’s license information and more comes in handy both in person and online. 
8. Double authentication:
   • Double authentication means that it’s highly unlikely that any person or any machine will get into my password vault even if they manage to determine my password. (which is also highly unlikely because of the long and random combination of characters.)
9. Lastpass authenticator app:
   • My LastPass Authenticator app offers me enhanced double authentication to get into Lastpass. I also use it for double authentication on many other sites such as PayPal, GoDaddy, my social media sites and more. I use this same app for my own websites which are constantly exposed to both amateur and sophisticated hacking attempts.
10. Convenience of always having my passwords with me:
    • With LastPass I conveniently and securely have all my passwords with me at all times via a trusted phone app and also as an extension on the browsers I use most often on all of my devices.
11. Emergency contact:
    • My password manager provides the option of secure access to someone as a result of an emergency. An emergency contact can request access immediately following an emergency or after a specified time period.
12. Generous file storage:
    • My paid subscription includes 1 GB of encrypted file storage for items such as passports, photo IDs, membership cards and more. (It is not safe to store photos of these on your phone or other devices that can be hacked.)
13. Dark web monitoring:
    • Dark web monitoring alerts me anytime any of my data is found on the dark web.

Lastpass has a free version and a Premium version. I started with the free version and upgraded to the inexpensive Premium version to take advantage of  the family plan and technical support.

In case I still haven’t convinced you to use a password manager, then please make sure your each one of your passwords are secure. (The link will take you to password creation guidelines.) See a quick summary of what makes a password secure below:

Features of a secure password:

1. • Length of 12 or more characters but “more” is better. NOTE: Ordinary desktop computers can test over a hundred million passwords per second. The longer your password, the harder it is for a password hacking tool to guess it.
   • A random mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers.
   • A word or letter combination that cannot be found in a dictionary.
   • No easily guessable numbers like your age or address or year of birth.
   • One or more special characters ie !@#$%^&* when allowed. NOTE: avoid < or > as these can cause problems in Web browsers.

Until next time,… stay Cyber Safe!