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Passwords

To do just about anything online (email, applying for jobs, social media) you need to make accounts. To make accounts, you need to make passwords. For most people, this can be a stressful activity, because it's difficult to remember passwords and if you decide to write them down, it's also difficult to remember where you wrote them, or even which password belongs to which account.

To add to this stress is the fact that the easier to remember your password is, the less safe it tends to be. Most people trying to hack accounts will try names, birthdays, and common passwords (e.g. "123456" or "Password1") first. It's also dangerous to reuse passwords. One of the most common methods of hacking into people's accounts is to set up an account ("sign up to take this Facebook quiz") knowing that a significant percentage of users repeat passwords. Then all they need to do is collect the passwords people used for their account sign up and try that password to get into people's email accounts, bank accounts, social media accounts, etc. If you use the same password for everything, then using this tactic will get someone access to all your accounts at once.

But there is a simpler, more secure way to handle all the passwords you need to function online: getting a Password Manager.

Password Managers

A Password Manager is to passwords like a bank is to money. It is a secure place to store something valuable which allows you to withdraw what you need when you need it. These are encrypted vaults where you can securely keep all of your passwords for every account. All you need to remember is your master password to enter the vault (similar to giving the bank teller your account number, birthday, and name to verify your identity). Once you're in your vault you can easily search through all of your accounts and simply Copy + Paste your password into the login screen whenever you need to access your account. 

Password managers can be accessed through web browsers and can be installed on your personal computer. This means that no matter where you are, no matter whose computer you're using,  you can access your password manager any time you have access to the internet. There are also password manager apps you can install on your smartphone to ensure you're never without access.

Most password managers also come with a feature to automatically generate a secure password for you. This saves time, because it eliminates the time you spend trying to come up with unique and complex passwords, and the time you spend trying to remember them or find where you saved them. It also ensures that all of your passwords are up to current security standards. As an example, a password like "9rTp1!g6n0p8" is one that you probably would not think to use for an account, both because it doesn't hold any meaning for you and because it's difficult to remember. However, passwords like this one are secure for these reasons, and using a password manager you don't need to worry about remembering it, because the manager remembers for you. 

Setting Up A Password Manager

1. Choose your Password Manager. (e.g. LastPass or Dashlane)
   
   
2. Select your Master Password. Spend time figuring out a secure and memorable password. This will be the ONLY password you will need to remember from this point on, but it is also much more important because it will be the only way to access all of your other passwords. If you lose track of this or forget it, you will not be able to access any of your passwords.
   
   A strategy I recommend is to choose a saying, quote, line from a song or poem, prayer, or sentence from a book you have memorized. Then use just the first letter of each word and add in at least two memorable numbers or symbols. For example, say you choose the quote "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain" by Dolly Parton. You can take the first letter of each word in that quote, giving you "TwIsiiywtrygpuwtr." Then you can add the year Dolly Parton was born "1946." Combined you have a very strong password: "TwIsiiywtrygpuwtr1946." This is both secure and easy to remember, and what's more, it's easy to look up if you forget it. All you need to do is look up the exact phrasing of the quote or Parton's birthday and you'll be able to make sure you've remembered the password correctly. You can also include the quote in its entirety in your notebook or on your desk as a reference without anyone assuming it's your password.
   
   
3. Create an account with your desired password manager, using your carefully selected master password. Make certain that there is no possible way you can forget or lose your master password.
   
   
4. Add all the passwords for all the accounts you remember or have written down to your password manager. Make sure you clearly label all your accounts so that they are easy to find when you need them.
   
   
5. If you have a personal computer, install your password manager as a browser extension or download it onto your computer. This will enable the password manager to automatically find and fill your login information for you when you go to different websites. While this isn't a secure practice for public computers, on personal computers it is and can make the entire process so simple you will barely need to think about it. 

Other Recommendations: 

• Periodically check https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see whether or not your email has been compromised in a data breach. If it has, don't panic. Just take the opportunity to change your password for your email account to something secure, and save your new login information in your password manager. 
• Start using Mozilla Firefox for your internet browser. Firefox's team is very concerned with digital security and will automatically notify you if a website you frequent has had a data breach so you know you need to change your password. 

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