Using the same password for all of your online accounts is a bad idea. If a hacker gets a hold of that single password, they can use a technique known as 'credential stuffing' to try and access your other online accounts (e.g. online banks, online stores, email services). In essence, you've 'handed over the keys' and made it easy for the perpetrator.
The recommended best practice is to create random pass phrases for every account, but coming up with unique passwords can be daunting task. Not to mention, it's virtually impossible to remember dozens (if not hundreds) of passwords for the various accounts you have. This is where a password manager comes in. A password manager is essentially an encrypted database that allows you to keep all of your passwords securely in one place.
Benefits of using a password manager
The benefits of using a password manager include:
- Keep track of all of your existing passwords
- You only have to remember a single "master password"
- Synchronize your passwords across all of your devices
- Browser extensions that make it easy to sign-in to your favorite websites
- Password manager apps can be installed on all devices (computer, phone, tablet)
- Generate random passwords for new accounts (or when updating existing passwords)
Popular password managers
There are several popular password managers on the market including Bitwarden, LastPass, LogMeOnce and 1Password. Most of these products have free versions as well as paid versions which contain extra features. While we do not recommend a specific password manager, BitWarden consistently ranks at the top of the list.