We all know that strong passwords are important but a lot of people go with simple, weak passwords because they don’t want to go through the nightmare of trying to remember all of their security questions if they forget their password. Using a password manager is a simple solution to this problem because it allows you to use a unique password for each account without having to remember them all.
There are a lot of great password managers on the market but some of them are a lot better than others and if you really want to improve your security, you need to find out more about advanced password managers and the extra features that they provide. These are the top features that you should be looking for in a password manager.
End to end encryption
If a password manager doesn’t have end to end encryption, don’t use it, it’s as simple as that. End to end encryption ensures that your data is secure when it is in transit as well as when it is being stored. The only way to access the information is to provide an authentication key and the only person that has that is you. This means that even the owner of the password manager cannot access your passwords. The reason that this is important is that you cannot vouch for their security and if they have access, there is an increased risk of data loss.
Multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication gives you a second layer of security when you provide the authentication key. As well as the initial password that you put in, you will be asked to provide a second method of authentication. This will be a single use code that is usually sent to your phone via text or generated in an app. This means that, even if somebody does somehow crack the authentication key, they cannot access your password manager account because they need that second code, which they can’t get unless they also have access to your phone.
Web monitoring system
Web monitoring systems are a premium feature on a lot of advanced password managers and they are so effective if you want to maintain security. They will constantly scan the internet and notify you if your password is being shared or used anywhere else. This will alert you to security issues right away so you can change your password and make sure that your accounts are always secure.
Emergency contact
The emergency contact feature is incredibly useful if something bad happens to you and somebody needs to access your accounts. For example, if you are in an accident and you are in hospital but you need somebody to access your banking app to pay some bills for you. The emergency contact feature allows you to input details of a trusted person that will be allowed access to your accounts if you need it.
Password managers do more than just creating and remembering strong passwords, so make sure that you check the features and look out for these important ones.
Walter Guevara is a software engineer, startup founder and currently teaches programming for a coding bootcamp. He is currently building things that don't yet exist.
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