How do password organizers operate?
Signing up for online accounts is annoying, and creating strong passwords for each one makes it even worse. That’s why so many people reuse the same password across different accounts. But this can be dangerous. If a password gets leaked, all your other accounts could be at risk too.
Luckily, there’s an easy fix. Password managers can create strong and unique passwords for you and store them safely so you don’t have to remember them. Many password managers even offer free trials, so you can try them out without risk.
One of the best options, in my opinion, is NordPass. It’s simple to use, packed with useful features, and helps keep your accounts secure. Plus, most password managers offer 30-day money-back guarantee.What is a password manager?
A password manager is a program that allows you to generate complex passwords and store them in a safe location. Most of them let you keep credit card information, as well as secure notes.
For even more security and convenience, the best password managers also support biometric data (fingerprint or face) instead of your master password. You can also share selected information with your family and friends without copy-pasting it into an email or instant message.Therefore, instead of memorizing all the login information you use for each site, you only have to remember 1 master password when using a password manager. Thanks to the autosave and autofill features, you can connect to all your accounts in just a few clicks.
How do password managers secure your passwords?
There are multiple ways to categorize password managers. However, this time, I want to present 3 technologies and explain how they work. Keep in mind that some providers offer multiple methods to keep your data safe. Most of them require you to use a master password to protect your vault.
Here are the 3 types of password managers:
Locally installed or offline password managers
Web-based or online password managers
Stateless or token-based password managers
Let's explore each of them more thoroughly.
Locally installed or offline password managers
As the name implies, locally installed password managers, also known as offline password managers, store your data on your device. It can be your computer or a smartphone, depending on your preference. You can find your passwords in an encrypted file, separately from the password manager itself. Some managers also allow storing each password in a separate file, greatly increasing overall security.
As always, you need a master password to access your offline vault. If it’s a strong one, there’s minimal chance that either the government or some malicious hackers will break into your local database. That’s because brute-forcing new-gen encryption requires a significant amount of time. What’s more, if you keep that device with all passwords offline, there’s no way to access it without seizing it.
Naturally, offline password managers have some inherent flaws. For starters, using them on multiple devices might prove challenging. There’s only 1 location, and other devices somehow have to sync with the one that has the vault. It usually means having your device with the locally installed password manager online, which can become accessible to third parties. Finally, if the device with your offline password manager breaks down and you have no backup, be ready for some tedious manual labor.
If you have an offline or locally installed password manager, then your passwords are stored locally. To be more precise, it’s the device that you’ve chosen for your vault. However, there’s a possibility to synchronize the passwords between multiple devices, which means all of them must be online. If you want even more security, you can save your passwords on different files, requiring a unique key for each.
The most popular type is the web-based password manager. It stores your passwords on a cloud, which is usually the provider’s server. Such a setup means that you can access your passwords from anywhere, anytime, without the need to install the online password manager software. If accessing your vault via a web application is not possible, you would only need a browser extension or a mobile app.
How can you know if your passwords are not accessible to the provider? Well, all reputable online password managers use zero-knowledge technology. It means that they encrypt your data on your device before sending it to the server. However, all security measures mean nothing if there’s keylogger malware on your device and you’re not using 2-factor authentication.Finally, you should expect to pay for a web-based password manager. There are great free versions to choose from, but some features like device limit or dark web scanning will most likely be a premium feature. That said, most paid online password managers aren’t expensive, especially if you commit long-term.
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