Let’s talk about how to manage your passwords. It won’t be long until the next big data security incident hits the headlines, where personal information including usernames and passwords are hacked. Leaving cyber criminals to their own devices to do as they please with this highly sensitive information.

Never has protecting your personal information online been so important. The best way to do that is by using a password manager. LastPass is one of the best and most secure ways to manage your passwords.

Are You Making These Password Mistakes?

You probably think have a pretty good system in place currently, right? If you do you do any of the following, you might want to rethink:

• save your usernames and passwords in your search engine, (e.g. Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer)
• use your contacts or notes on your iPhone or Android to store usernames and passwords (including pin numbers)
• keep a record of all your usernames and passwords in Excel or Word
• use the same username and password for EVERYTHING

If you do any of these please stop. RIGHT. NOW.

It’s time to manage your passwords, the right way. Safely and securely.

Let’s take a look at what a password manager is, how you use it and why you should be using it.

What is a Password Manager?

Let’s have a look at what Wikipedia has to say on the matter:

“A password manager is a software application that helps a user store and organize passwords. Password managers usually store passwords encrypted, requiring the user to create a master password; a single, ideally very strong password which grants the user access to their entire password database.”

And this is exactly what LastPass is.

I was first introduced to LastPass back in 2015 when I was looking at setting up my VA business and its one of the tools that I could not run my business without. In fact it is the one tool I use EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I would be completely and utterly lost without it as I use it for my business.

I actually insist that all my clients create an account and then install the add-on to their Web Browsers. There is no need for me to see all their passwords, I just need them to share them with me securely enabling me to login, so I can help them run their business.

Did I mention that I don’t just use it for work, I use it to manage all of my personal logins as well?

4 Reason to manage your passwords with a Password Manager?

Here are my own top 4 reasons to use a password manager:

Increase your brain power

We live in a world of tech overwhelm. At times, it really is too much. Using a password manager is the fastest and most efficient way to log in to any website. You just click a button. We use so many tools to run our businesses today, using a password manager leaves you with the additional brain capacity to be creative, not having to remember a bazillion passwords (or worse, using the same one over and over again…).

Improved security

If you use a spreadsheet or write them all down in a notebook, imagine if both of those were compromised? What is you were hacked? Or worse, a client was hacked? Is it really worth it.

Life is too short to waste time on trying 5 different passwords to login, only to get really frustrated because you can’t remember exactly which one it is. You only need to remember the master password to login and access your vault. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

Sharing passwords is safe and a breeze

Most of the top password managers will encrypt your data in a way that keeps you safe. The thing I love about LastPass is that they data you store in your vault is kept secret. Even LastPass don’t have access.

As I have already mentioned I get my clients to use it to share their passwords with me and then I can share those with any team members that may also need access. I have folders within my vault for each client so I can find them easily. I can’t see the passwords or edit them, keeping the clients login details safe and secure.

Affordable

The best part is the free version is perfect, you can do all the things you need to with the free version. The pro version only costs just £31 for the year and means you can use it on your Tablet and Phone too, great if you happen to be travelling. Winner.

Choosing a password manager

If you happen to be like me and work with multiple clients with multiple logins to hundreds of different systems, a password manager makes it fast and simple. Personally I love LastPass and like I said before I recommend it to all my clients. LastPass is the dogs bollocks in my personal opinion, but you really need to do your own research and find one that works for you and meets your needs. Just make sure you choose one with a good reputation, otherwise you could be unwillingly putting your data into the hands of cyber criminals.

Hey, don’t just take my word for it, PC Mag literally just wrote a blog post outlining their favourite password managers for 2021, you can read more here.

And if you are looking for other tech recommendations, check out our resources page here.

Do you use a password manager? If you do, let us know your favourite in the comments below?

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