Dataprotection: password manager

Back to news

Published on 28 Nov 2023.

As a cloud service provider, we are actively concerned with online security. On the occasion that it was "Data Protection Day" on January 28 and "Change Your Password Day" on February 1, we thought it would be the perfect time to write a few articles about it. We asked colleagues at Kinamo to write an article about what they thought of when they heard 'Data Protection'. So far, we also shared articles on how to recognize a secure website, safe online backup of our data and social media data maintenance.

In this blog post, Koen shares information about password managers. Koen has been working for Kinamo as a Sysadmin for over 12 years. He provides a performing and secure infrastructure for Kinamo and our customers.

Why a password manager?

"Why do I need this?", we hear you ask. You may be right, you may have very secure passwords and a perfect system figured out... but take a moment to read on!

Much has already been written around coming up with the ideal password. Yet, in practice, we often see that this is already where things go wrong. There are also numerous systems to guide the user in the right direction when resetting a password. For example, when setting a password, you are often given tips that should help you "choose" a strong password. And yet, people are so creative that we still use easy-to-guess passwords like "Secretword.

Passwords are quite complex, long and thus not easy for most people to remember. Plus, it's best to choose a different password for each site, service or system, should a leak occur. Before you know it, you'll have a phone book of passwords, just start memorizing them! And then those damn IT people come and tell you not to write them down anywhere, even though they came up with those difficult password requirements themselves, the bullies!

2054226 mp01 62499 1573740329 1024x1024

Source of the above image: no don't go buy it!

Still, to make that more or less workable, these IT guys come up with a possible solution in the form of a password manager.

What is a password manager?

It's simply a program or service that keeps track of all your passwords. Your passwords are then securely stored and locked with one "master" password (there we go again) and possibly a 2nd factor such as your smartphone or a secret file.

The advantage of passwords for passwords

At the very least, the passwords you store in the password manager no longer need to be remembered. So it is no longer necessary to remember an entire phone book of different passwords.

Password managers have many other advantages. You can have the passwords created automatically (less thinking), the passwords can be long and completely random (extra secure), if a password needs to be changed you don't have to make up a new one again (because those pesky IT people have a security system that checks if you have used the password before) and - last but not least - no more forgotten passwords (those IT people are happy too).

To conclude the bit about the benefits of a password manager, perhaps the most important benefit: your online accounts are better protected and more secure.

Start to password manager

To get you started, we suggest Bitwarden. This is a secure and easy-to-use password manager that keeps all your passwords and other sensitive information encrypted. After creating a Bitwarden account, your data is securely stored on a server within the EU, which provides additional privacy protection.

Bitwarden has both desktop and mobile applications. Your data syncs through these applications between all your devices, so you can access your passwords anytime, anywhere. You can also use Bitwarden in your browser via the Chrome extension, which makes managing and using your passwords from your browser child's play. This automatically fills in passwords and saves new passwords without the hassle.

Conclusion

Before concluding this article perhaps an additional tip. Also take a moment to think about setting any secret questions for the "password recovery" procedures. What was the brand of your first car or what is the name of your mother-in-law's pet, are examples of questions already used in password recovery procedures. But before you use these questions and try to fill them out as correctly as possible: perhaps also consider that the answers to such questions are often relatively easy to find for anyone doing some browsing through social media profiles. It would be annoying if your secure password were hacked that way. (Hint: create a completely random password for this as well and save it in your password manager).

Kinamo

Select your language

All languages: