There are very simple reasons why password security is so important:

1) We can now access most of our private, confidential information online (bank accounts, email, and social networks), and

2) We’re lazy.

I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad with that last point. I’m really lazy, too. For years, I used only a few passwords and rarely changed them. It doesn’t take a long explanation to illustrate how dangerous that can be. If someone figures out your Facebook password and you use the same password for your email, the intruder can now log into your email and reset passwords for things like your online banking. And if you’ve ever wondered how embarrassing emails from politicians and celebrities end up getting exposed online, this is how it’s usually done.

A few years ago, I started using LastPass to manage my passwords, and it dramatically improved my online security. Password management software like LastPass lets you generate complicated, random passwords for each website you visit, and all you need to do is remember a single main password to access all of them.

While I love the idea behind LastPass, I haven’t been entirely comfortable with its execution. I made the switch to 1Password when it became available for Windows last year, and I’ll explain why it is a great idea, if you haven’t already done so.

1Password vs. LastPass

Although it wasn’t available for Windows until 2010, Mac users have been familiar with 1Password for quite a while. This award-winning password management lets you create strong, unique passwords, and locks them with a master password so you only need to remember a single password. Unlike LastPass, 1Password doesn’t have a free version, so why would I want to switch?

1Password lets me store my passwords locally

One of LastPass’s best features is that it stores your passwords online, so you can access them from anywhere by logging into your LastPass account. But even with amazing security, I could never feel completely secure leaving all my passwords in someone else’s hands, which is one of the biggest reasons why I switched to 1Password.

I’m braver than most technically inclined people I know, partly because I spend so much time using new technology that I have built up some sort of mental callus to its inherent risk, and party because I want to believe that most of these companies aren’t looking to screw over their users. But my paranoid tech-savvy friends aren’t wrong – we’ve seen countless examples of how companies have sold their customer’s private data for personal gain. And even if the company is 100% ethical, all it takes is for an unethical giant to buy them out and make dramatic changes to their privacy policies.

With 1Password, I can store my passwords locally on my computer so I never have to worry about a hacker breaking into a massive storage server somewhere in the world and potentially getting my information. This means I also need to be careful with how I store this information, but since 1Password encrypts everything it makes it pretty easy to keep your passwords safe. I love having total control over my data.

What if you need to access your passwords on multiple computers? This is a very realistic problem for almost all of us, and there are a few easy solutions with 1Password. You can use Dropbox, a super-easy file sharing program, to keep your passwords synced across multiple computers. And if you don’t feel comfortable doing that, you can simply save your 1Password files to a USB flash drive or portable hard drive to always have them handy.

Passwords stored with 1Password are already securely encrypted, but you can use a free application like TrueCrypt to ensure your passwords are inaccessible. The 1Password team wrote a great article about password security in cloud-based storage systems.

Great browser integration with hotkeys

This might seem a bit fickle, but I don’t think I could really get in the habit of using password management software that didn’t have an easy way to access my passwords and automatically insert them into my browser. 1Password has great browser plugins for Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer, so I can log into my accounts effortlessly.

The best way to access your 1Password passwords in a browser is to use the hotkey CTRL + \.  When you press this key combination, a window will automatically appear prompting you to unlock your 1Password data, and after doing that you’ll see a list of any accounts available for the website you’re viewing.

When creating an account on any website, you should always use a unique, complex password. 1Password makes this very easy with their Generator option, where you can pick the password’s length and complexity. Since you don’t have to memorize it, why not make it as complicated as possible?

One of my favorite features of 1Password’s password generator is its Pronounceable option. This lets you create a password that is easily pronounced phonetically (and thus easier to remember), which is great for using services like Twitter when you need to log into mobile apps.

I’d rather pay for important software I’ll use every day

First off, LastPass does have a premium version that gives you access to mobile apps and better features. But it’s a subscription-based service, so this means you’ll have to keep paying for it as long as you want access to these features. If you ask me, I’m subscribed to way more services than I already want to be (Netflix, Audible, my mobile phone plan), and I really don’t feel like adding another monthly subscription.

1Password costs $49.99 (for Windows) which you pay once to completely own the software and receive all updates. And you know what? It’s completely worth it.

I use the same logic when explaining why it makes sense to pay for your operating system – this is software you’ll use every day, it will improve your life (I’m guessing you would be negatively affected if someone hacked your bank account because you were using insecure passwords), and its price is validated by 1Password’s high quality. I pride myself on supporting things I enjoy and improve my life, and I’d rather use the buy-it-once 1Password than a free version of LastPass.

1Password also has apps for Android, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad, so you can always access your passwords on-the-go. The 1Password mobile apps also support Dropbox, making it easy to keep your passwords synchronized on your mobile device.

Image courtesy: mbrand

The post Why I Left LastPass for 1Password first appeared on Techerator.

• Do you use the same password for multiple (or all) websites?
• Have you had the same password for more than 6 months?
• Is your password strong?
• Does your password contain plain dictionary words, or include personal information such as your name, address, or phone number?
• Do you use your browser’s built-in password storing feature?

If any of these things are true, it’s understandable – nobody wants to memorize multiple passwords and make them overly complicated.  Unfortunately, it also means that your online security is compromised and could lead to you becoming a victim of identity theft.

Think of it this way:  if someone was able to access your Twitter account, they could potentially access your email if you had the same password for both.  Once your email has been compromised, an intruder could reset the passwords for the rest of your secure accounts (or even access something as important as your online bank accounts).

The solution to creating and managing strong, unique passwords across multiple websites is to use a password manager such as LastPass.  LastPass is an online password service that can be used with feature-rich plugins in Firefox and Internet Explorer, and can be used on any browser via unique bookmarklets or web access.

LastPass stores your passwords in a secure online vault which can only be opened with a master password that they do not store or even have access to.  Instead of remembering dozens of complicated passwords, all you have to do is remember your master password and it will unlock the rest of your passwords.

While it may seem dangerous to have one master password that can unlock all other passwords, the idea is that since you only have one password to remember, you’ll treat it with the utmost safety and change the password often.  To protect you from keyloggers (programs designed to record keystrokes), LastPass provides a visual keyboard which allows you to enter your password via mouse clicks.

Getting Started

To get started, you’ll want visit the LastPass download site to get the appropriate client.  The main download (recommended) contains plugins for both Internet Explorer and Firefox, but you can download a Firefox-specific plugin here.  If you don’t use Firefox or Internet Explorer, don’t worry – I’ll cover how to access your passwords without the plugins later in this article.

The next step is to create a LastPass account.  This will be the information that safeguards your password vault, so make sure you use a strong password (and don’t forget it – if you are locked out of this account, there is no way to recover it!).

Once your account has been created, you will be prompted to import your current passwords.  While this step is optional, it is important to do because most of your passwords are stored insecurely on your local computer.  After importing, LastPass will give you the option to remove your insecure passwords (remember, if LastPass can find your passwords, what could a malicious program do?).  If you are concerned about the safety of your passwords, LastPass provides some additional security information about their service.

In the next screen, LastPass gives you the option of securely storing personal information for use in forms.  While this particular feature could be useful, I will exclusively be focusing on passwords for this guide.

Finally, you can choose whether LastPass should automatically log you out (for public or shared computers, more secure) or keep you logged in for two weeks (for private computers only, less secure).  I would also recommend setting the Homepage Preference to “Do not set LastPass Vault as my homepage”.  When you click Done, you will have the option to watch a short video on the LastPass service.

Now that LastPass is fully installed, you will have toolbar buttons in both Internet Explorer and Firefox.  Clicking these buttons gives you a host of options as well as the ability to manually log out of the service.

When visiting sites with a secure login, LastPass will function just like your browser’s password storing feature did by prompting you to save your passwords.  After clicking ‘Yes’, your password will now be securely stored in your vault which can be accessed via the LastPass toolbar button.  While saving your password, you’ll be able to give it a name, store it in a group, or make it a favorite.

The next time you visit a site with a stored password, it will automatically be inserted if you are logged into LastPass.

To access your password vault, simply click the LastPass toolbar button and select My LastPass Vault.  This will display a webpage containing details for your login information, and you can automatically login to a secure site by clicking its name.  To view any of your passwords, click the [Edit] button and then click [Show].

Changing Your Passwords to Strong Passwords

Now that your passwords have been securely stored using LastPass’s vault, you can change your existing passwords to something more secure.  The biggest advantage of LastPass is that it can keep track of an unlimited number of complicated passwords, so I recommend generating unique passwords for every website you use.

To store a new password, login to a website and locate the password change section.  LastPass will display an information bar at the top of the page and offer to enter your current password. You can then click the ‘Generate’ button to create a secure new password.  If you are not given the information bar, you can right click the password field and select LastPass –> Generate Secure Password.

After clicking the Generate button, you can click the Generate button inside the resulting dialog box to create new random passwords.  When you’ve found a password you like, click Accept and it will be inserted into both the password and password confirmation boxes.

Password criteria and settings can be adjusted by clicking the ‘Show Advanced Options’ checkbox.  In here, you will be able to adjust the length of the password as well as what characters are used to generate it.  I highly recommend checking the ‘Special’ box because it adds characters like !@$%^&* which make your password much more secure.

Once you have submitted your password change, LastPass will notify you that it has detected a password change and gives you the option to save the new password.

Accessing Your Passwords From a Different Computer or Browser

While the LastPass plugin is the best way to access your passwords, there are times when you need to access your passwords on a shared computer or a browser that doesn’t support plugins.  For these circumstances, LastPass provides convenient bookmarklets that can be launched from any browser or computer.

To use the bookmarklets, log into your LastPass account and click the Bookmarklets tab.  In the dialog box, you will be provided with several bookmarklet links and instructions on how to use them in different browsers.  Once you get the bookmarklets added to your browser, you can click the ‘LastPass Login!’ bookmarklet and you will be automatically signed in to any secure website you’ve saved a password for (as long as you are logged into LastPass).

You can also access your secure sites by logging into LastPass and clicking the title of any saved website.  You will be automatically taken to that website’s login page and logged in.

If you ever want to view any of your passwords, you can click the ‘Edit’ button on a saved site and then click the [Show] button near the password field, which will allow you to copy and paste it wherever you like.

More Information

Check out the LastPass website for additional information including a feature list and several videos/screencasts.  As with any online service, make sure you trust the provider before using their service.

The post How To: Create and Store Passwords Securely Using LastPass first appeared on Techerator.