Are passwords driving you crazy?

Are you having trouble managing passwords? It is impossible to keep track of all the passwords needed to survive our digital lives without help? Doesn’t everyone hate all of these complicated passwords? I sure do. The last time I checked, I had 10 pages of passwords. Everything on the internet requires a password.

I used to hate my passwords. Every new account wanted another password. What password was I going to use? I would create a new password and then I would forget to save it somewhere. The next time I wanted to login to that account, I had forgotten the password so I had to reset it.

Use a Password Manager

When my list of passwords reached ten pages, I knew something had to change. Either I had to get rid of some accounts – not an option as everything requires a password – or I had to start reusing passwords – a very bad idea – or it was time to consider a password manager. I consulted my developer who is very particular about security – a very good trait for a developer – and he suggested Bitwarden.

There is a free account that words very well for individuals and reasonably priced plans for businesses. I’m paying for a business account because it simplifies tremendously the challenge of keeping track of accounts that are shared or assigned to staff.

Bitwarden lets me use it to create the password for me. I set the parameters for it i.e., how many characters and the type of characters and then it does the rest.  Like magic. And it saves them for me too.  I can now manage the hundred plus passwords without any problems.

Best Practices for Password Management

Do not reuse a password – NEVER – NEVER – NEVER. Why? Because if a password is hacked, the hacked password will be tested on other logins. Hackers are very clever and have an incredible ability to figure out how to gain access to someone’s accounts.  My advice remains – do not use the same password ever again.

Use complex passwords of at least 8 characters – mine are 12 characters. Include upper and lower case, numbers, and special characters.

Store your passwords securely. Many people use Google to save their passwords, but I don’t recommend this as best practice.

Use a password manager. It makes it so easy to create a unique and random password for each account (and make my developer very happy when you have secure passwords.)

Never share your passwords with anyone. Never and never with anyone – even your closest friend, spouse or child.

How does BoardSpace help make password management easier?

Once an account is set up and a password created, the next time you can login using a link. Click on  “log in with email.” An email will be sent to you with a one-time use link.  These types of links are secure and expire quickly.

To make working with passwords easier just click on the eye in the password field to reveal the password you have entered. .