The word “password” has been in the top ten list of most commonly used passwords for some time. Easy to remember? Yes. Secure? Not at all.
One technique to aid in memory is to substitute letters for symbols. Instead of password, consider something like p@s$w0rd. The problem is that once we come up with that easy-to-remember-hard-to-guess password, we want to use it everywhere. So that same password that is securing your rather mundane user account on your friend’s blog is also securing your bank, Facebook, and email account. That may seem fine until you read the headline about someone hacking into—insert some big company name here. Then when one password is compromised, the rest go with it.
Ideally, you should have a unique, hard-to-guess password for every online account you have—which is a daunting task even for card-carrying members of Mensa.
Enter LastPass, an online, multi-platform solution for storing your passwords. This service can be had for free and will keep all of your passwords synced and secure. It also allows you to share and give passwords to other LastPass users. Sharing allows the recipient to use the password without being able to see it, while giving allows for viewing of the password as well.
There is also a premium subscription for as little as $1 per month. With the premium version, you can use it with your iPhone or another smartphone. This alone is worth the cost, but you also get multifactor authentication, priority support, and no ads.
Related links: