If you thought the Gawker password hack was limited to blog commenting, you would be sadly mistaken. The data now freely available covers “about 1.5 million usernames, e-mails, and passwords.” The hack is affecting users across a myriad of sites and services including LinkedIn, Yahoo, Twitter, and Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft.”
This growing problem illustrates the issue with using the same email and password across multiple services. Hackers and any malicious person can simply take your Gawker credentials and try to use them on whatever service tickles their fancy. Even if you change your password on Twitter, did you remember to do so on Facebook? Flickr? Your bank? Things can get complicated and tedious really fast.
The easiest and most obvious solution here is to use a password manager. They come in all flavors, but using one at all should put you leaps and bounds ahead of most users. Here are a few that you might want to try.
LastPass
LastPass, which recently acquired Xmarks, will generate and store you passwords across all major browsers and operating systems for free. It will also give you access to your passwords on your mobile device for a fee, but they offer a 14-day free trial. One-click login is supported.
PassPack
We’ve actually covered PassPack a few times here. It’s a cloud-based solution for businesses and workgroups. Free accounts are limited to 100 passwords and 1-click login is supported via a bookmarklet. Passpack does not seem to have a mobile solution at this time.
KeePass
While not as polished or easy to use as other services, KeePass is my solution of choice. It gives me secure access to my passwords across all screens and it’s free and open-source. The desktop app stores your passwords in a database on your computer. There is no direct browser integration, but you can easily auto-fill forms on any website with a simple key combo. By storing your database on a service like Dropbox, you can access the same KeePass database from your mobile phone using the KeePass app.
This is an extremely limited list as there are a gang of password management, storage, and generation services out there. The goal is to make sure you’re actually using one. Instead of trying to memorize a million passwords, let the software generate them for you and, usually, securely login for you as well.
What’s your solution for keeping your passwords secure?
via PC Magazine