In many of the services we use online, in order to access them we need to identify ourselves with a password. A good measure to have greater security is to have a strong key that we have not reused in other sites. We currently live in a time of transition to the digital world, where we increasingly require the use of more credentials. Then there comes a time when we need at least one place to store them. For this reason, password managers have appeared as a solution that allows you to store and generate passwords. Today we are going to talk about the mistakes you should not make when choosing a password manager.
The first thing we are going to do is see what a password manager is. Then, in order not to make mistakes when choosing one, we will see what characteristics it should have. Also, to help you choose a password manager, we will recommend some that you can use.
What is a password manager
We could define a password manager as a computer program in charge of storing our users and passwords. Its way of working is based on creating a database that is encrypted and accessed through a master password.
The objective when choosing a password manager is that the user of this type of program only has to memorize a single password so that he can access the rest. In addition, it has the advantage that it facilitates the administration of our passwords, and allows users to generate complex passwords without fear of being forgotten at some point.
On the other hand, most password managers also offer the function of generating passwords automatically. Thus we avoid always using the same one, or having to create a robust password created by ourselves whose task is sometimes tedious. They also usually offer an indicator of the strength level of the key that we are going to use. To mention a few that we could use we have Passwarden and AuthPass.
What characteristics should we observe when choosing a password manager
If we do not want to make a mistake when choosing a password manager that is reliable and secure, we must carefully observe its characteristics:
- Two-factor authentication can provide us with extra security. Even if they had our password, they could not access our account without knowing the second factor. It is a very important thing to look for, especially if the password manager is online.
- Security notices , so that you send us a security alert when they try to access our account or the accounts have been compromised in an attack, is also an important question.
- If it is a portable or installable version . A program that is installed for a computer is not the same as another that does not require installation and you can take it everywhere. The decision to opt for one or the other depends on the needs of each one.
- Know the type of encryption that our password manager uses, since the stronger it is, the more secure our keys will be.
- If you have a mobile app , sometimes it can get us out of trouble and it can be interesting to have it.
- Having an integration with the browser can be positive, because we can easily and automatically access our credentials.
Errors that we cannot make when choosing a key manager
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that you must download this manager and then install it only if it comes from a safe source . In that sense, what we have to do is download that program from the developer’s website. This way we avoid that the software has been modified in a malicious way.
Another thing to look for when choosing a password manager is that it receives updates to make it more difficult to breach its security. Sometimes these security flaws are exploited by cybercriminals.
Finally, if you want to further reduce the chances of being attacked, it would be by using offline key managers . This type of password manager does not use the cloud or Cloud to store the user’s credentials, everything is stored locally, therefore, it is very important to copy the key database in several places in case we accidentally delete the database. current data. This is very important, otherwise we could lose all our stored credentials.
