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Password manager

17 years ago

A computer expert on TV highly recommended the use of a free on-line password manger, such as "lastpass.com." Is this a good idea, and what service do you recommend?

RB

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Comments (6)

cboy
17 years ago
I have a note pad for my passwords. Why would I trust
others with my passwords?
cg
grandms
17 years ago
I use Last Pass and really like it. It does take some time to get all your passwords entered and working. But it is very important to have a good, strong master password for accessing your LastPass vault. It was recommended along with another one by Kim Komando, and I found it easier to understand and use than some others. I had never used one before I started using LP about six weeks ago. Everything I read about it makes me feel secure using it.
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Speaking only for myself, I don't find a 20-character password inconvenient in the least. Most of my passwords, as noted, are over 35 characters. PWs for some accounts are over 60. Though I use LP for general storage of them, I can easily reproduce them manually if I need to do so. In any case I find it odd that some can treat the email account so cavalierly. (I don't say that as if I'm some kind of expert. My username is most fitting in this whole discussion. Instead, I say it as someone perpetually interested in the whole issue of email and online security.) :-) While some may use email only for getting their AOL 'joke of the day,' an email account is, of course, much more. It's been called the skeleton key to one's online identity. (Didn't mean to rhyme that.) ;-) E.g. take Amazon. If you go to Amazon to login and click that you forgot your password, Amazon will send a password reset to your back-up email address. Just like that. No further identification or security procedure at all. Amazon assumes you are in control of that back-up account. But what if you're not ? What if that account is the very one that has been hacked because of having too simplistic/crackable of a password ? Then the hacker can easily gain access to your Amazon account while in control of your email account. It may not be an inconvenience for snidely and others to have an email account and an Amazon account compromised. But what if other Amazon account holders do find it so, and what if they even have a gift card credit in that account ? The hacker can now order whatever he wants on your credit. And while looking through your email account the hacker can see what other services etc. you belong to. And many of those places will allow passwords to be reset just as easily as Amazon will. Imagine the implications, the pervasive compromises, that can result. Maybe during the night while you're asleep. Allll that time to do whatever he wants with your account. Others' mileage may vary, of course, and I fully respect that. :-) But I personally don't evaluate the importance of my email account by the types of emails I receive or how often I get email, but by the services that require my having that account and that depend for their so-called security on my having access to it. The more of a "junk" account it is, the more likely it's used for those services which, if compromised, would lead to a nightmare of multiple account recovery. And in all this I most definitely prefer the ounce (or two) of prevention to the pound of cure (or would it be "pounding" in this case ?) IOW, I don't want to be Chicken Little and lose sleep at night over all this (and I don't). But neither do I want to be careless, not if being careful only means making some simple changes (like increasing the size/complexity of my PWs and maybe using an otherwise reputable and reliable password manager). Just my two cents (or is it cents-less ?) ...
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Pooh Bear, I can't say with any certainty about the site limit, but in a cursory examination of their "premium" features page there wasn't a specific mention of any difference to the free version on that point. ?? Btw, on the tutorial page I linked to above, at right there is a link on importing from RoboForm, so if you do decide to make the switch, it should be relatively easy. :-)
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For some reason or other, you logged out or got logged out of Xmarks. So just enter your Xmarks password again and you should be good. Saved passwords are in Tools >> Options >> Security >> Saved Passwords . . . . and they are remembered there if you click on "Save" when entering a password. Just so you know, Firefox's password saving feature is not unbreakable. It's probably ok for home use but I wouldn't rely on it for anything super important on a laptop where there's a chance it could be stolen. I use a password manager for that and disable FF's own password manager. This post was edited by kbarb on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 12:04
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I like LastPass. It's free version has many of the perks of most of the other apps' paid versions. You can store an unlimited number of passwords and you can alternate between devices. Most of the other apps limit you to one platform. It's rather simple to use, and you only have to remember the master password. It also has the option to will your 'form-fill' info (name, address, phone number, email, etc.) that websites require when signing up for an account or shopping and the like, so you don't have to type it each time. Another perk is that you can create subfolders for your passwords. It has optional 2-code authorization, too, meaning more security. I research everything and this password manager and DashLane were the highest rating for free password managers on every website I researched. LastPass was hacked a few years ago but no one's information was compromised due to their extreme security measures. This is one of the reasons I chose this password manager over DashLane. DashLane is also fairly new, so I didn't want to take the chance. Hope this helps!!
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owbist
17 years ago
Three passwords are easy to remember and like Cboy I do have them on a notepad right on my desk along with other stuff my feeble mind might refuse to recollect at the right moment.
bpgreen
17 years ago
I would never use an external password manager. I have a couple of reasons for that.

For one thing, if the external site is compromised, it doesn't matter how strong your passwords are. They're compromised.

For another thing, what if that place goes out of business? How will you find your passwords?

As for passwords written on a pad, that has some pretty obvious problems, too. If it's not handy to the computer, it's not going to be up to date. If it is handy to the computer, if you have a break-in, if the thieves are smart, they'll cover their tracks and just use the info in the pad (fortunately, most thieves aren't smart, but I wouldn't bet my life's savings on it).

I keep a password protected spreadsheet with passwords in it. I have tabs for different uses (financial, shopping, etc). I never use passwords that are in the English dictionary or would be if I changed 0 to o. I tend to use words in Asian languages and mix upper and lower letters and add some numbers and special characters as well.

Recently, a lot of hotmail accounts were compromised. The most common password was 123456.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
17 years ago
I do not use password managers either, I keep a special notebook with all my passwords to individual sites, it is put in a secure location. I can not trust an outside source and I can not feel secure in a document on my pc in case of a critical failure and I could not retrieve it. I do also put my critical information on a flash drive and keep it in a secure location. I figure it someone breaks in and takes my computers and is smart enough to find my passwords then there is not much I could do to stop them. They will be going through hell to get that far!

I use extremely strong passwords never real words and always a combo of upper and lower case along with numbers and I do not use the same passwords over and over on various sites. Password creation is the one security measure so many users fall short on.
This site is one everyone should visit and pay attention to.
Password Recovery Speeds How long will your password stand up
DA_Mccoy
17 years ago
Ditto. I cannot find a reason to support the use of any type of password manager; on-board or on-line.

Let's be honest about passwords. 95% of them are of little value to anyone else and only an inconvenience of various degrees to a user if they were compromised. The world would not end if Photo Bucket, Garden Web and Hotmail became compromised. It's the other 5% which are critical. The medical, personal and particularly the financial sites. Now there is trouble.

DA

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