Internet usage is increasing day by day. Almost every PC, laptop, tablet or phone is used to access the Internet primarily for communication and information. Internet has become the main source for gathering info, shopping, education purposes, enjoying music and movies, using social networks etc. As the number of people joining the web grows, the importance of information management grows as well. For example, when accessing email accounts, social networking sites, bank accounts, it is especially important to keep user names and passwords in safety.
What is your password?
And this is a Sophie’s choice when you do not want to make a password too simple for everyone to guess it easily and you do not want to make it too difficult, because you can forget it quickly. Such information is of great importance because a user can not access any email or other accounts without it and losing it involves too much trouble. Either the password must be remembered or should be saved where you can access it with ease. There are programs that save your private information, but they work usually only on your own PC. You can not access this information from any other computer. And that is why you need the help of a web based password manager.
Traditional vs. web-based
Web-based management tools are accessible from anywhere. There is almost no chance of losing such important information. In addition, if you use some computer-based software as a password management tool, there are chances that your computer may crash and you will never get the information you saved.
Password managers are all designed to take the pain out of remembering hundreds of unique passwords and reduce the probability of a security breach. There are many choices, however, including a password saving option every browser provides. So, how do such tools, like a web based password manager, work and which one is better in terms of safety?
Your browser knows everything
Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and other browsers can be used to automatically save your logins and passwords. It is handy, because you do not have to download or install another application, but it is not the most secure or effective option. Your data is collected in encrypted databases or registry entries on your PC. If the browser can synchronize your data between your system and other devices, the information is stored in its secure form to an online account. The most serious disadvantage of keeping your passwords in your browser is that it is not difficult for a hacker who has access to your computer to also get all your passwords. What do you choose: having a strong password or having many passwords?
Why are web based password managers safe?
A web based password manager is an effective way to secure your personal information. These services provide additional options such as creating random passwords and storing other important information, for example, social security numbers. Online password managers are used to encrypt password database with the only key in the form of a master password that only you have. All the encryption and decryption processes take place on your device. Because these service providers do not have the encryption key, even if their databases are compromised, the criminals would not be able to steal your data.
Unless your master password is not very strong or if you use the same password on other sites, you are safe. All the web based password manager companies are very upfront about safety issues and risk is reduced to the minimum because you hold the encryption key, even when your data is stored on their servers.