LastPass & 1Password
We can bet that you have had to reset a password that you forgot at least once in the last year. You’re not alone. With the proliferation of internet-based services and the increased threat of hacking, our password storage and requirements have exponentially grown in number and complexity. To handle the volume, we have seen many people store their passwords directly in their web browser (a HUGE security risk) or in text format on their computer (in Notes, Word, or TextEdit). This is extremely insecure. Fortunately, there are excellent solutions on the market.
Like many of our clients, our office is split between those who love 1Password and those who swear by LogMeIn’s LastPass for their personal password management. Both of these services are excellent at what they do.
Because it is an app, 1Password offers a few more features to securely store all aspects of your digital life including passports, driver’s licenses, and social security cards along with the usual password management for the sites you visit.
LastPass, on the other hand, is a browser plugin that will just store your internet passwords, and management is centralized in an easy-to-use web page. More importantly, it is free! While it is slightly less secure than 1Password by virtue of being a web-based database of your passwords (as opposed to stored locally), the security team at LogMeIn is known for its dedication to security.
As their names suggest, your “1 password” will be the “last pass” you will need to remember. Simply come up with a secure password (and remember it), and the programs will store everything else for you. As you start to use them, you can either choose to manually populate the databases by getting rid of those text or browser-based password lists, or you can let the apps do the work for you. Every time you put in a password, the apps will prompt you to save your password into the database. That’s it!
To learn more about each of these, visit the 1Password and LastPass websites.
