Passwords are an integral part of life today – you need them to buy stuff, get into your bank account, access your social media, use the software you’ve bought or subscribed for – and, of course, just to access your computer or phone.

They come in all kinds of versions with instructions to include upper case, lower case, numbers and ‘special’ characters, but how do you remember them all?

If your answer to trying to remember a lot of different passwords is to use the same password for everything – that’s like handing a hacker your little black book of passwords (or your spreadsheet where you have them all stored).

If your access code is 1234, 2468, 0000 or 2580 (the numbers down the middle of your keypad) – it’s going to take 30 seconds for a human to access – let alone a computer program that checks thousands of options a minute.

And if you’re still using your name or Password123 as your password, you’re asking for trouble.

How strong are your passwords?

Without a password manager there are all kind of advice on generating passwords, from using three random words such as ‘glitteringbadgershort’ or a formula that only you know, e.g. siteID/number sequence/personal ID.

If you want to know how good your current passwords are, check them out on one of these sites:

• Passwordmonster.com
• Bitwarden.com/en-gb/password-strength
• Security.org/how-secure-is-my-password

They’ll tell you how long it would take a computer program to crack your password!

No need to remember

As an IT company, we have hundreds of passwords for our clients and no way are we going to remember them all, so we use a password manager.

If you use Google, Edge, Mozilla Firefox or Safari, they all have a password manager built in. That’s a great way to ensure you don’t forget your passwords, no matter how long and complex they are. Most browsers have one built in and It is more secure than a spreadsheet or little black book, but if someone hacks into your computer, they’ll get your password manager too – so it’s decent, but not bulletproof.

There are a host of password managers available that are a much more secure version of the browser’s version. We use Dashlane, LastPass and Bitwarden. They have a range of options, but for a small business we’re talking about less than £5 a month. Dashlane is popular with Mac users (although it works for PCs too), while LastPass and Bitwarden are more mainstream.

They don’t just keep your passwords safe, but they integrate with your browser and, when you’re asked to create an account that requires a password, the password manager will automatically suggest one and save it for you. Then, whenever you want to access that site, the password field will be populated with a click.

If you try to access the site from a different network or device you’ll need to carry out another level of authentication, usually a code from an app, which may seem like a pain, but it’s the difference between good security and getting hacked.

Our advice, don’t take the risk. Get a password manager. Of the ones we use, LastPass is a good place to start. You’ll sleep better at night!

If you’re not sure which password manager suits your business – just ask us!