How safe are password managers?

It sounds like magic, doesn’t it? You enter one main password into your computer and the computer logs you into everything you need to access…

You never need to remember another password again…

And if you need to find the password for something, you open up the central password vault right on your computer.

There are tons of password managers out there, and most of them work in a similar way. They are installed into your browser, they capture the information as you log in to websites, and moving forward, they log in for you. Some offer to create more secure passwords for you. Eventually all of your passwords live within this password management program. And your life seems easy breezy…

Except that every time you enter you master password, you remember the nagging fact—that you’ve put all your eggs in one basket, under one master password.

If your master password is breached, what happens to your digital kingdom?

Well, while most password managers have avoided breaches to this point, there is one exception. In 2015, LastPass was hacked. (This is after a security breach in 2011.) The company said that email addresses, authentication hashes, and hints used to help people recall their passwords had been exposed and urged users to change their passwords as a precaution. Password managers provide encryption, but while this makes cracking passwords much more difficult, it’s not impossible. And let’s not forget…the hackers keep getting smarter.

At RightSize Solutions, here is our take when it comes to password managers:

If you hop onto your iPad or PC and have the keys to your digital kingdom, that may be very convenient. But how have you protected that device? Once someone is in, they don’t necessarily have to hack anything. So if you haven’t protected the device and access to it, your information is vulnerable. And if you allow employees to manage their own password vaults, how do you actually know they’re using it properly? The good news? From a company’s perspective, password vaults do make it easy to use very complex passwords. At RightSize Solutions, we believe there is a place for password vaults in most company settings—as long as the device is protected and there are procedures in place to keep employee access safe and secure.

Want to make sure your password vault is actually safe? Let’s talk specifics.