Easing Password Pain

Does keeping track of your passwords make your head hurt? If so, you’re not alone. Surveys find that the average user has anywhere from 6 to 130 passwords across work, online shopping and bill-paying, social media, and other online accounts. As Wall Street Journal columnist Geoffrey Fowler said recently, “I have more than 150 different logins and counting. I’d have to be Rain Man to memorize that many passwords.”

Passwords are a challenge, but fear not: There are solutions that can keep you both safe and sane.

• A strong password should be at least 12 characters long.
• Include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
• Don’t use your birthday, your mom’s maiden name, or the often ridiculed, yet often used “1234.”
• Use a unique password for each account, especially financial and medical accounts.
• Don’t use any words that could be figured out from your Facebook page, like your favorite food, movie, or book.
• Avoid the temptation of online or social media quizzes, which can mine personal data to hack your password or answer security questions.
• Add an extra layer of security and use two-factor authentication whenever you have the opportunity.
• Change your passwords immediately when you're notified of a breach.

Also remember that many sites will ask you to update your passwords periodically, and many won’t let you just change one number. For example, “this!zMyp@ss1” can’t become “this!zMyp@ss2”.

The best way to remember passwords is to store them as soon as you create them, and not in a spreadsheet on your computer or a Post-it note in a drawer. While you’re at it, store the answers to all those security questions you're when you set up a new account. After so many data breaches in the news, businesses and banks are bypassing the easy questions like your mother’s maiden name and are going for ones that may not have simple answers. Some sites are getting more sophisticated and are asking questions derived from public records or credit reports, such as streets you’ve lived on and banks that you’ve had a loan with in the past.

So how can you store all those passwords safely? The best approach is to use a password manager application like IDX's Password Manager, which encrypts your passwords, so even if someone gets access to them, they can’t read or use them. Most of these applications store your passwords in the cloud, so that they are available to you from all your devices.

When you use a password manager, you only have to remember one master password, and the software does the rest. It will recognize websites and fill in passwords for you, either automatically or on command.

Most password managers can capture new passwords as you create them, and some allow you to store other information such as Wi-Fi network passwords, addresses, and phone numbers, so they can auto-fill fields for you in online forms. Some will generate strong passwords for you or run a test on your passwords to determine password strength and duplication.

Remember, safe and sane. As WSJ writer Geoffrey Fowler says, a password manager is “like the memory you wish you had.”