KeePass -
Each month we want to focus on one product and why we enjoy using it. It could be software, a physical product for business or personal use. With so many technological products out there it is difficult even for IT people to stay on top, heck even my five month old daughter is more on top of technology than I am!
Security is paramount in the technology world and passwords are used as the primary point of accessing our data. At Voltone we enjoy using a free opensource product called KeePass. KeePass is a password manager that uses an encrypted database that contains all of your passwords, account information, and what application or website it belongs to. At an individual level and business level it works wonders due to the pure fact we also have so many different accounts and passwords to remember.
Would you believe the most popular password still used today is Password123!? An attacker is well aware of popular passwords. This is why it is important to take advantage of complex passwords, the longer and more characters that your password is the longer it takes to crack the password, potentially years.
Some key items to remember when creating a new account whether or not you choose to use a password manager or not.
Account information should be unique for every product or service you use. Why? If your passwords are the same at every account, it makes it that much easier for an attacker to get into multiple accounts.
Make your password as long as possible and not a word and include numbers and special characters. Some people like to have a sentence with the first letter of every word being a letter in the password, i.e. "I love eating macaroni and cheese with baked beans on top." - iLeMaCwBbot25
Do not answer security questions truthfully, with social media now a days its not difficult for an attacker to figure out your pets name from scrolling through your Facebook feed.
If available use two-factor-authentication, yes it is a pain! 2FA requires you to receive a text message or an email with a code that must be entered into the application you are trying to access.
Lastly, changing your password minimally once a year. Its a simple one, but a really important one. Last year we saw a couple companies have account information stolen, as soon as the attackers have an opportunity they will be accessing accounts with the stolen data.
Please visit https://keepass.info/ to download the program, and backup your database file!
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