It’s been over a month since the Heartbleed security fiasco that shook up the internet, but new polls suggest that you might still be lax about your online passwords. In January 2013, Deloitte analysts estimated that 90% of all passwords are simple enough to be hacked in seconds. Seconds!
Now, I know that changing and remembering all of your passwords seems like an overwhelming undertaking (which is why no one does it), so instead, I recommend downloading LastPass.
Think of LastPass as a secure vault for your passwords that you can use and access on both web and mobile devices and only takes a few minutes to set up. Once you’ve created your account, LastPass will prompt you to save your login info every time you log into a new account. Do that for a few weeks, and all of your key passwords and login information will be saved, without any extra work on your part. As a bonus, LastPass will autofill the login when you return to that site, saving you the time and headache of remembering every password along the way.
I use LastPass to quickly and easily log into sites every day, but my favorite feature is one I run much less often: the LastPass Security Challenge. With one click, you can run the challenge to identify areas where you can continue to improve your online security. It alerts you to weak and duplicate passwords and helps you generate new ones immediately (which it also saves right away). The first time I ran it, I had nine sites using the same (moderately weak) password. Big oops! Now, I sleep a lot better at night.
So, what are you waiting for? Next time you have a few free minutes, install LastPass and start securing your online passwords. Your future lack of identity theft, credit card fraud, and hacked accounts will thank you.