Articles in Category: Passwords

Are Longer Passwords Better, Even If They’re Simpler?

A longer password of repeating characters is more secure than a short complicated password — but there’s more to security than cracking.

What’s the Best Two-Factor Authentication Option?

The best two-factor authentication approach varies based on your needs, and what’s offered by the service you’re trying to use it with.

What Should I Do About the Changes to LastPass Free?

LastPass is changing the terms of their free service. Find out if you’re affected, and what to do if you are.

Can I Have Different Passwords for YouTube and Gmail?

A Google account includes Gmail, YouTube, and much more. If you want to keep those services separate, you’ll need separate Google accounts.

Why Password Managers Are [Still] Safer than the Alternatives

If you’re not using a password manager, you’re likely compromising your security more than necessary. Here’s why using one is safer.

Is Passwordless Sign-in Safe?

Signing in without a password seems almost nonsensical, yet it can be more secure than traditional sign-ins. More convenient? That depends.

How Two-Factor Authentication Works

Two-factor authentication is a great way to keep your accounts secure from hackers — even those who manage to get your password.

Why Is It So Important to Use Different Passwords for Everything?

Using different passwords on different sites is not only good practice, it’s necessary to keep your accounts safe. I’ll review why, and how best to handle a plethora of passwords.

How Do I Hack Someone’s Account? How Do I Hack My Own?

These are oversimplifications of many variations on the same basic question. People want to hack into other people’s accounts, or even their own, for a variety of reasons. Some sound perfectly legitimate. Others, not so much. And others are just blatant attempts at theft, harassment, or revenge. What’s really scary is that I get these requests … Read more

What If I Lose My Second Factor?

When you lose your second factor, there are two things to be concerned about: getting into your own account — for which you should be prepared — and someone else having access to your second factor — which isn’t as scary as it sounds.

Why Can’t Online Services Tell Me My Password?

It’s for your own protection, and the result of fascinating mathematical wizardry. And if they can tell you your password? They’re doing security wrong.

How Do I Choose a Good Password?

With occasional security breaches at service providers and rampant email account theft, password security has never been more important. Make sure you choose and use secure passwords.

How Do Password Vaults Enter Passwords?

Detecting and filling in sign-in forms is a password vault’s most basic feature. I’ll look at how that works, and what to do when it fails.

How to Choose Good Security Questions

Security questions are a cornerstone of much internet security. I’ll look at what they are, how they fail, why you should avoid them, and what to do if you can’t.

Crank Your Password Strength Up to 11!

The results are in for last year’s most common passwords. The implications are depressing, but important.

How Can I Recover My Current Account Password

Trying to recover the existing password for an online account is usually an exercise in frustration. There’s one possible straw to grasp at.

The State of Passwords in 2019

Password are here to stay, at least for a while longer. Until they die, here’s quick review of how to make sure yours are as secure as possible.

Do I Need a New Email Address if Mine’s Involved in a Breach?

If you discover that your email address is part of a breach, you probably do not need to change it. But there are steps to take to protect yourself.

Password Checkup: A Recommended Chrome Browser Extension

Password Checkup is a browser extension that tells you if the password you’re using has been discovered by hackers.

How Can I Use a Password Manager for My Security Questions?

Password vaults are good at keeping track of passwords, but not answers to security questions. There is a technique you can use to help.

I’ve Lost All My Passwords, What Do I Do?

Losing access to your password vault can be a major inconvenience. Fortunately, that’s all it needs to be, and there are ways to prevent even that.

How Do Websites Store Passwords Securely?

Effective website security is difficult, and often an afterthought. Not all sites or services store passwords securely.

How Do I Back Up LastPass?

It’s important to back up LastPass, because unexpected things happen. What you do with that backup, however, is critical.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication in LastPass

Your LastPass password vault is full of exceptionally important data. Add additional security with two-factor authentication.

Why Do Password-strength Meters Give Different Results?

Password-strength meters don’t always agree. My take is to avoid them completely.

Possible LastPass Phishing Vulnerability

News broke over the weekend regarding a potential phishing vulnerability that could lead you to give a hacker your Lastpass master password.

How do I change my LastPass master password?

It’s not something we do often, but occasionally it’s important to be able to change your LastPass master password.

How Do I Disable Remembered Passwords in My Browser?

Web browsers aren’t necessarily the most secure approach to saving your login passwords. I’ll show you how to disable the feature and clear out any previously remembered passwords in IE, Firefox and Chrome.

Would changing user names result in additional security?

Common wisdom is that you should change passwords periodically; so should you change user names too? My take: common wisdom is wrong from the start.

Is a Long Password of Repeating Characters Good or Not?

The problem is that we don’t know what approach hackers are using to break your password. So, to be safe, the best password is both long and complex.