Password Security Georgetown TXDo you feel overwhelmed by the number of passwords you have to remember? Do you curse under your breath (or perhaps out loud) when you find you have to create one more web account just to get some information you need? I’m there with you. It seems like every site, service and vendor requires their own web account and log-in. Invariably this means password security devolves to post-it notes on the monitor or under the keyboard or in Word and Excel documents. This is the kind of thing gives IT security professionals nightmares and crying fits. But there are some alternatives; enter the Password Manager.

Password managers are simple pieces of software that can store all your passwords and even log into the site for you. Password managers allow having solid, strong, different passwords for each site that you don’t have to remember yourself. You just have to remember the master password. Most password managers install as a web browser plug-in. When you go log into a site, it will offer to save your password and when you go back to that site, it can automatically fill in your credentials. You can even save multiple logins for the same site if needed. Some of them will do password updates for you and some can generate strong, random passwords for you to use. Most Password Managers are available at low cost and some have free versions.

Some of the more popular ones are Dashlane, LastPass, and LogMeOnce. I use LastPass for my personal computing and find it very handy. There are several others out there. So consider letting your computer handle your password management, relax your memory and burn those yellow stickies!

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By Kurt Rinear
Director of Technical Services
Central Texas Technology Solutions