These days majority of internet users are at risk of cyber attack, not due to the fact they aren’t using any high-quality antivirus software or a VPN service, however, due to the fact they make use of weak passwords to secure their online accounts.
Passwords are your final lines of protection against online threats. Simply look back to recent data breaches with the extra-marital affair website Ashley Madison, that led to the exposure of lots of information online.
Despite the fact that you cannot control data breaches, it is still essential to create robust passwords which could face up to dictionary and brute-force attacks. you see, the longer and extra complicated your password is, the much more difficult it is crack.
Why Use a Password Manager?
Do you remember some websites prompting you to make longer or stronger passwords because your password is too weak (take Gmail for instance). This is because it will be harder for hackers to gain access to your password if it is longer and more complex. It is also recommended that you create different passwords for different accounts so that if one account is attacked, you’ve still got another one to use.
Now, we all know that it is a real hassle to memorize all those long and complicated passwords because let’s face it, you’ll forget them anyway.
What Exactly is a Password Manager?
For those who are not familiar with what a password manager is, in a nutshell, it is a software that creates hard-to-guess passwords for all your accounts and stores them in a database. The password manager may be used to automatically log into your accounts by pulling out your security details from the database. The best thing about this software is that it is accessible only by a master password. This means that one password can protect all the passwords of your other accounts.
Which Password Manager is the Best?
Now that you know what a password manager is and how it works, let’s look into what is the best password manager for you. We’ll cover the two most common Operating Systems for computers namely Windows and OS X.
First up on the list is Keeper Password Manager. This password manager makes use of a military-grade AES encryption that is 256 bit. This is probably one of the safest password managers for windows. What makes it really unique is the Self Destruct feature which will literally blow away all of your information stored in the database if the wrong master password is entered more than five times.
Dashlane is another excellent password protector. It also makes use of an AES-256 bit encryption and has an online syncing feature which allows you to access the database anywhere you are as long as you have an internet connection.
LastPass is another really cool password manager that is cloud-based, meaning you can access it on the internet. Just like the previous two, this one also makes use of a 256 bit AES encryption. For an extra security feature, this password manager offers a fingerprint reader support feature as well.
This password manager happens to be one of the best there is in the market, and it can sync information through Mac OS, Windows, and Android. One of the unique features of this password manager is that it has a Mugshot feature which would actually take a picture of the person who is trying to access your account. Just like the previously mentioned password managers, this one also has a military grade AES- 256 bit encryption.
KeePass is also another password Manager that is recommended for OS X. This one also has the same encryption as the others, but it offers mobile apps and browser extensions. You also have the option to switch your encryption to Twofish 256-bit instead of AES.
Lastly, we have Apple iCloud Keychain which is specially made for Apple devices. This password manager is as strong as the other previously mentioned ones and has a secure elliptic curve asymmetric cryptography which makes it very strong security-wise. The only downside about this password manager is that it can only work in Apple browsers.
Conclusion
These are some of the really cool password managers that you can use for both personal and business use. The great thing about these password managers is that they are very safe and easy to use. With this, you can add an extra layer of security to your computer so that you can ensure that hackers or trackers won’t be able to get access to your information whenever you surf the web. With the number of security breaches growing, it is definitely a must to invest in added security features so that you won’t have to worry about these things happening to you.
