Simplifying My Digital Life Through Password Managers

In my pursuit of simplifying my Digital Life, nothing has a more profound impact on my digital security and simplicity than adopting a Password Manager to create unique passwords for each account that I have. If you’re still using the same passwords for all of your accounts, you are putting yourself in absolute danger. It’s almost like having one key to access all your rooms and storage vaults. If a burglar breaks into your house and gains access to that key, he can basically take everything from your house. When one of your accounts gets compromised, all of your accounts with the same password will eventually get compromised.

This actually happened to a UK-based business owner who lost 3,800 pounds because she used the same passwords for all of her accounts. Therefore, it is so important to implement unique passwords for each account so that in the event that the unfortunate happens, the incident is isolated and the collateral damage is kept to a minimal. Every year websites get hacked and information is leaked. You can check if your email has been compromised using this link (https://haveibeenpwned.com)

Security

By using unique passwords for each of these websites, each account is isolated from one another, enhancing the security. Many password managers also come with password generators which makes it easy to create passwords for every account.

Your passwords and sensitive information are protected with end-to-end AES-256 bit encryption, salted hashing, and PBKDF2 SHA-256. All good stuff for your security. Even if hackers have access to their servers, they will only see a string of unreadable information. Adding on to that, even these providers do not have access to your master password. Only you have the master password to decrypt it. It is therefore extremely important that you remember your master password because these service providers cannot help you to recover in the event you forget your master password.

Convenience

Other features, password managers provide are multi-sync across all of your desktops, laptops and smartphones and autofill. Your passwords are available across all your devices. The password manager also detects the website you are on and auto-fills your username and password for you so you do not need to key them in manually. You can even store sensitive notes inside your password manager and let it be your digital vault.

My experience with Password Managers has been very positive. Two of my favourite password managers are LastPass and Bitwarden. However, LastPass Free only allows sync across one type of device (Either computer or smartphone). Bitwarden, on the other hand, is completely open-source and can even be hosted on your own private server. Bitwarden free provides sync across all devices, however, it's interface is not as intuitive and as user-friendly. Currently, I am in the process of migrating all my passwords from LastPass to Bitwarden as I can accept the 'less intuitive UI' in exchange for the free plan.

Admittedly, there is a risk that these password managers would steal our information but it will work against their interest as they are in the business of providing security. Bitwarden's code is also open-source which means anyone can read its code and report if there's something suspicious in the code. They are also third-party which increases their trust factor. These are reputable companies in the industry and I trust them to manage my passwords and simplify my digital life.

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