Why You Should Use a Password Manager

Passwords are your first line of defense against anyone who would like to steal your online accounts or information in these accounts. To protect your accounts, you should use strong passwords that normally include long and random combinations of characters. Such passwords are nearly impossible to remember. Moreover, you should have a genuinely unique password for each of your accounts.

So, how do you remember and keep track of all these passwords? The solution is a password manager.

Think of a password manager as a safe, where you keep dozens or even hundreds of keys (passwords) to all of your accounts. It makes your life easier as you need to remember only one password – to log into the password manager where all of your other passwords are stored securely.

What a password manager does

• Remembers your credentials
  You probably have dozens or even hundreds of different online accounts. Writing down or typing the credentials for all these accounts (user names, email addresses and passwords) to keep them on a piece of paper or a document on a computer is a very bad idea. Password manager takes the hassle out of keeping track of all these accounts. It remembers all of your passwords and other credentials for you.
• Stores them safely
  Storing all your passwords in a password manager is much safer than writing them down or typing to keep in a document on a device. Nobody can open your password manager if you protect it with a very strong password. As an additional precaution, you should use two-factor authentication to secure your password manager.
• Creates strong, unique passwords
  Password manager also takes the hassle out of creating strong passwords and ensuring that each password is unique to each individual account. Password manager creates passwords for you and allows you to control the length and complexity of your passwords.

Which password manager you should use

It is up to you to choose a password manager that fits your needs and preferences. There are several reliable and secure options for paying users to choose from. Some antivirus software packages come with built-in password managers. If you choose to pay for a subscription, 1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden Premium, Dashlane, Keeper, and NordPass are safe bets.

Some password managers also offer free plans to users who do not need advanced features. If you decide to go with a free password manager, your safest bet is to choose from open-source options such as BitWarden, KeePass, and KeePassXC.

Password managers fall in one of two general categories depending on where they keep users’ credentials. If you use a local password manager such as KeePassXC, it stores passwords on your own device. Such password managers offer better privacy and security but they require a certain level of technical knowledge and digital hygiene to use them safely.

In contrast, cloud password managers store passwords on cloud servers. This option is safer for those users who have limited technical knowledge and cannot commit to strict digital hygiene which includes automated backups. BitWarden is a free, open-source, cloud-based password manager known for its security and reliability.