NOTE: Due to recent hacks, I no longer suggest LastPass. Read more here…
Passwords… Yeah, one password for each account that you have! This sounds very easy to do and is a very important thing but I see a lot of people ignoring this. Often I’m hearing excuses such as “I can’t remember all of them” and basically you don’t need to remember all of them! Make use of a password manager such as LastPass.
In case you really don’t know, a password manager is a digital vault that stores you account credentials, so you don’t have to remember them. Basically you only have 1 password to remember, to enter your digital vault, and from there you can access all of the stored password. Sounds awesome right?
There are a lot of different password managers out there but I’ll start with my favorite one which I have been using for years now; LastPass.
LastPass is one of the password managers created by LogMeIn company. They offer also iOS & Android app as well so you can use it on all of your devices. However there is one downside on the multi-device usage which is that this option is only available in the “Premium” option which costs you € 2.90 a month. Since this is billed annually, we’re talking about a total price € 34.80. However the Premium offers some more features such as 1GB File Storage and advance security options.
Weather you use the app on your Android or you’ve installed the application on your Windows laptop, the overal experience is the same which is very good. On the left you have your menu where you can store your passwords, notes, addresses, credit card details and more. Upon clicking each of this menu’s you have all the details so you can easily see them.
Safe & Secure?
LastPass uses AES 256-bit encryption to protect your passwords. This level of security is so strong that it would take 200 million years for a computer to crack it. Your passwords are encrypted before they reach LastPass’s servers so even if hackers managed to breach the server, your passwords are still safe since they’re encrypted. It’s also impossible to reverse engineer it to retrieve your master password.
Does it offer Multi Factor Authentication?
Yes. With LastPass you get to manage both 2FA & MFA in the LastPass’s Multifactor Option on your dashboard.
Lastpass offers their own Authentication but you can use other apps, or Software-Based services or even Hardware tokens such as YubiKey.
Setting up MFA requires you to take additional steps and providing a second, or multiple factors to make sure that it’s you who is trying to access your vault.
LastPass Password Generator
As mentioned here above, you should have 1 password for each account. However it’s going to be difficult to remember all of them. And this is where the password Generator comes in. Simply let LastPass generate very strong passwords for your accounts. Easy right?
LastPass Security Challenge
When you’re using a password manager it’s also good to evaluate all of your passwords. Perhaps you’ve been using a password for different accounts. By taking the LastPass Security Challenge you’ll get insight on all of your stored passwords and is meant for you to improve the overal complexity and make your online life more secure.
Conclusion:
I’m using LastPass for some years now and I’ve been trying a lot of different password managers in the meantime, however somehow I always end up towards LastPass. It’s very easy to use and offers an intuitive and easy experience.
Off course there are a lot of password managers out there and actually this is not the only password manager that I’m using. (I’ll also write about them as well in the future!) But the bottom life is always: You should always use 1 password for each account and this you can only achieve by using a password manager.
What is your favoriete password manager?
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