If you have multiple online accounts, you might have been advised to use a multifaceted software toolkit widely referred to as a password manager — but how does a password manager work?
This is not an easy question to answer in a single simple sentence, as a password manager can do many different things — including:
- Securely store a range of passwords and other login details
- Automatically fill in website login fields
- Warn when passwords are found to have leaked
- Generate new, hard-to-guess passwords
These are only selected examples of the functions often baked into a password manager. There are many different password managers to choose from, and they differ in terms of the specific features they offer.
For this reason, if you are eager to make the most of a password manager, it would be crucial for you to be careful which one you opt for in the first place. Often, how does a password manager work in the following respects?
Securely Storing Passwords
It can be useful to see a password manager as essentially a high-security virtual vault where you would be able to store all of your online passwords.
Wouldn’t this just be a fancier way of writing all of those passwords down in a notebook? A password manager differs in that the data is encrypted before it is stored — and you will need a ‘master password’ to unlock the ‘vault’.
This arrangement would have plentiful benefits for you, such as:
- Enabling you to essentially replace multiple passwords with just one
- Sparing you having to commit various passwords to your memory
- Keeping records of your passwords secure
You might wonder why you shouldn’t simply give each of your online accounts the same password. In a PCMag survey of 1,041 US adults, 70% admitted to using the same password for at least two different things.
However, it would remain crucial for you to use a different password — ideally one combining uppercase and lowercase characters as well as numbers and symbols — for each online account you have registered.
Otherwise, if a would-be thief or fraudster discovered your multipurpose password, they could soon find it to be exactly that — multipurpose — and leave your online security compromised on more than one front.
Automatically Filling in Login Details
After you have loaded login details into a password manager, it can detect when you are on a webpage where you would usually enter those details.
On this occasion, though, you wouldn’t need to do that typing — as the password manager could just fill in the login fields with the relevant details automatically. This is possible with, for example, iolo’s ByePass software.
This can be used with the majority of operating systems and web browsers, and store both usernames and passwords as and when they are required.
Letting You Know if Passwords Leak
No matter how complex your online passwords happen to be and how diligently you secure them, you can never entirely rule out the possibility of them leaking due to data breaches at companies you have registered with.
In 2023’s first quarter alone, the world saw over six million data records exposed as a result of data breaches.
Data that breaks cover in this way can end up on the Dark Web, where cybercriminals buy the likes of login credentials and credit card numbers with the intention of using them for nefarious purposes.
Since you can’t guarantee that none of your passwords will be leaked like this, it would be beneficial for you to at least be notified if any of them are found on lists shared by hackers.
Mercifully, iolo’s ByePass can scan the Dark Web for evidence of such leakage and inform you of any it finds. You would then be able to promptly change any of your passwords ByePass has determined to be lurking in the open.
Through adopting iolo’s System Mechanic Ultimate Defense suite, you can get hold of not only easy-to-use password management software but also real-time antivirus protection against malware that could steal your data.
Producing New Passwords for You
It would be wise for you to change your passwords regularly so that if cybercriminals find and attempt to use any of them, they will hopefully turn out to be outdated and consequently useless.
When you do change a password, you might as well make the new one as hard as possible for other people to guess. Here is some traditional — and still worthy — advice for coming up with a strong password:
- Include at least 12 characters: People can differ in their ideas of what is ‘long enough’ for a secure password, but 12 characters is a good guide.
- Insert numbers and symbols: Don’t settle for just words. Also, the characters should look truly random when arranged in the password.
- Avoid any dictionary word: Making the password one dictionary word would be bad, while stringing together two wouldn’t be much better.
Despite this advice, you might remain unsure how to distinguish between a ‘strong’ password and a weak one. So, how does a password manager work at helping users to put together complex and hard-to-crack passwords?
Simple: password management software can intelligently generate unique passwords for the users. With this functionality at close hand, you can save yourself a lot of time while still tapping into security boons of strong passwords.
We offer iolo ByePass password management tools on multiple versions of Windows as well as the iOS and Android mobile operating systems. We recommend that you call us on (801) 523-6763 to learn further valuable details about ByePass.
