Usually, these passwords are stored in an encrypted database and locked behind a master password.” Malwarebytes Labs defines a password manager as “a software application designed to store and manage online credentials. A password manager can remember them for you. Assuming one gets past the account creation phase, you’re going to promptly forget the Enigma machine cypher you just made and resign yourself to using the “Forgot Password?” link as your everyday log in option.įortunately, you don’t have to remember all those passwords. Failing that, we aren’t even allowed to make an account. When creating a new account, websites demand that we create long and strong passwords. Out of this came the long and strong password xkcd pokes fun at: a common word with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, at least one number, and one symbol. 20 years ago cybersecurity professionals admonished consumers for failing to change default passwords on IoT devices (like your Internet router) or using easy to guess passwords like “12345” or “password”. The famous xkcd web comic “ Password Strength” explained it best: “Through 20 years of effort, we’ve successfully trained everyone to use passwords that are hard for humans to remember, but easy for computers to guess.” So, how did we get here, and what can we do about it? It is reported that most data breaches are caused by compromised, weak and reused passwords. One breach leads to another and another and so on. Using giant lists of stolen passwords (aka “dumps”) bought off the dark web, cybercriminals can brute force their way into other sites or use old passwords to extort users in scams. Think about yourself - do you re-use your passwords across multiple accounts (just as two-thirds of Internet users)? This is a big no-no. For most, it’s become impossible to remember all of them. While technology promises to make our lives easier, and it generally does, every new website and application we sign up for is another password we have to remember. Today, things are much more complicated. On average, it is reported that people need to remember about 100 passwords. Once upon a time, during the early years of the Internet, you may have had a handful of passwords for a few essential web applications that you used to shop, study, stay connected, and get work done.
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