Using strong passwords is hard. Crafting a complex password is a task our human minds tend to struggle with. And when we do find a password that we find well suited to protect a part of our digital lives, we tend to use that same password for multiple accounts across the internet. This of course greatly deteriorates the security of the password because if that password is ever discovered by those with ill intent, it can be used to access the multiple accounts protected by that password, rather than just a single account. Then there are those who practice the use of unique passwords across their accounts but either keep the passwords simple so they can be remembered, or they write them down in a non-secured location. Thankfully, as with many problems in our interaction with technology, resolving this issue can be assisted with software. The software category that addresses this problem is password managers. The password manager that I will be writing about today is LastPass, as it is the one that I make use of. LastPass allows you to generate new passwords that are both complex and unique, as well as save your current passwords, all in a securely encrypted database. It can auto-fill your login credentials in any of the top web browsers, as well as the apps on your smartphone (though this feature currently works more reliably on Android than it does on iOS). The “generate secure password” feature in LastPass is customizable to your own preference. It allows you to mandate the amount of characters used, the type of characters and whether the password is pronounceable, appose to a garbled series of special characters (e.g. @#!%&) and numbers. Your passwords can be synced across all of your devices securely, meaning you will never have to worry about using the “right device” to have your passwords available to you. You can find LastPass available for every major platform. This includes all of the top web browsers and operating systems as well as iOS, Android, and even Apple Watch. For mobile devices that feature a fingerprint reader, LastPass can take advantage of this to give you a faster method to access your passwords, while still keeping everything secure via your fingerprint. This feature is also supported on PCs equipped with a fingerprint reader, though this is restricted to the Premium tier of LastPass. And if you are worried about the insecure passwords you currently may have, the Security Challenge feature in LastPass deserves your attention. It will analyze all of the passwords in your LastPass database, and list out for you all passwords that are weak, old, reused, or potentially comprised. After this is done you, LastPass can even auto-change the passwords for many supported websites. LastPass has both a free and premium tier. If you opt for the free variant you will have access nearly all of the core features in LastPass. There are a few features exclusive to the Premium tier, as well has priority customer support and an ad free experience. The below picture details the benefits given to Premium members. LastPass is yet another tool that I find valuable for improving the usage of my online account. It provides security and simplicity to my digital life, and I hope that you also will find this to be your experience.
You can find more information, as well as the download links for all of the available platforms at LastPass.com
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