WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH MY CURRENT PASSWORD SYSTEM (OR LACK OF ONE)?
Passwords are the most ubiquitous form of authentication on the internet today. You probably know that you should have a strong, unique password for every online account you have.
The problem
How do you come up with a unique password for every single online account let alone remember them all? Most people don’t bother. Instead they’ll use one of the techniques below each of which is problematic:
-You use one password for all of your accounts
Let’s say that this password is very complex, a mix of letters, numbers, caps and symbols. Unfortunately all it takes is one of your online accounts to get compromised to open up all of your other accounts to compromise. Password compromises are becoming quite common these days and one weak link in the chain makes all the other links vulnerable. If an attacker gets access to your password through an insecure, innocuous website, they can then use it to pivot to more sensitive ones, like your bank, tax, or online health care accounts.
-You use many insecure passwords or a variation of one password that are easy to remember
In this day and age, It is very easy for a malicious actor to break those insecure passwords using a wide range of widely available and free hacker tools. Even if that password is stored securely by the website, which is not always the case, a weak password can sometimes be cracked in a matter of minutes or even seconds.
-You write all the passwords down and store them in a notebook that you keep near you or in a unlocked document stored on your computer.
It’s easier than you think for people to find these files, even accidentally.
PASSWORD MANAGERS ARE A SOLUTION
You only need to remember one password
Password managers like LastPass store your existing passwords in a central location and helps you generate new, stronger passwords that you never have to know or remember. All you need to remember is one, “master” password to access your password manager.
Lastpass works by installing a browser plugin on any major web browser that you use. From there, it knows that you are logging into a website with a username and password and prompts you to save that account in your Lastpass vault.
LastPass also offers mobile applications for iOS, Android, and Windows 10 for when you’re browsing on your mobile devices or on the road without your workstations. All your accounts are available to you when you want, from wherever you want.
Generate Stronger Passwords
When you are creating a new account online the software will offer to generate a strong (random) password for you and store it in your vault.
Make Browsing Easier
Once you’ve stored an account in LastPass, the next time you try to login to that account, LastPass will remember and autofill your credentials to make browsing easier. For those especially sensitive accounts, like your bank accounts, you can add the option to prompt you for your Master Password before LastPass autofills that account.
Two step and browser timeout
LastPass offers two step (which you should use!) so that when you do need to enter your single master password you will get the second authentication on your phone (or other device of your choice). So then even if the master password is exposed you are still protected. LastPass can also do a browser timeout, so you are not always logged in to your secure accounts – if you step away from your computer you’ll be protected from someone sitting down and accessing your accounts.
Locally encrypted sensitive data
All encryption/decryption occurs locally on your devices, not on LastPass’ servers. This means that your sensitive data does not travel over the Internet and never touches LastPass’ servers, only the encrypted data does.
Only you know the key to decrypt your data
Your encryption keys are created from your email address and Master Password. The Master Password is never sent to LastPass – only a one-way hash of your password when authenticating – which means that the components that make up your keys remain local to your users. LastPass also offers multifactor authentication to add extra security by requiring a second login step when signing into your account.
Generate unique, strong passwords
No more using the same password for all sites. No more writing down passwords on little pieces of paper. No more emailing yourself when you forget your password. With the LastPass password generator you can create strong passwords for each site and automatically save them to your individual vault. With LastPass, your data will be safer online than ever before without the hassle of remembering unique passwords.
No more using your browser’s insecure password manager
Any malicious application can easily retrieve saved passwords from your browsers. With LastPass, you’re protecting yourself from these attacks!
Protect yourself from Phishing attacks
LastPass not only remembers the username and password for all of your accounts, it also remembers the correct web address. It can protect you from Phishing attacks that take you to malicious sites which look legitimate.
Secure Notes
LastPass also offers you a section where you can store your sensitive documents and notes. Tax information, medical health documents, or anything that you want to protect can be stored in LastPass using the same level of top-secret government encryption and can be accessed anywhere and anytime.
Online Shopping
LastPass can store all of your credit cards and autofill that information for an easy and quick online shopping experience. By default it will prompt you to re-enter your Master Password to make sure that it’s really you buying that item, and perhaps to make sure you really want to buy that item.
GETTING STARTED WITH LASTPASS
Go to https://lastpass.com from your standard browser (Chrome recommended)
Select Get LastPass Free. Install the browser plug in and create your account.
GETTING SUPPORT FOR LASTPASS
Get answers to all your LastPass questions.
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