Haven’t heard of a password manager? You’re not alone. Despite the convenience and security they can offer, password managers aren’t used nearly as much as you’d expect, especially among small and medium sized businesses.

So, what is a password manager? Essentially, it’s a piece of software that generates and stores passwords, providing them on demand when you need to log on to a certain site or application. Say you’re visiting a certain website. You’ll visit that site normally, but you’ll type a master password into the password manager – the manager will then retrieve your login information and apply it, granting you access.

Okay, so why should you actually use a password manager?

Added Convenience

One of the most attractive advantages is not having to remember the login information for each site or application. If you run a business, you’ll probably have a whole host of usernames and passwords that you need to cycle between, and it can be easy to lose track of which one is used for which site. You don’t need to remember individual passwords or usernames when you opt for a dedicated password manager, just one central password. One thing you want to avoid doing when inputting your password is being simultaneously connected to an unsecured public network that others connected to it could exploit to steal your private information and data (such as your account details and passwords) – you may want to think about using what some believe to be the best vpn for mac in order to encrypt your connection for peace of mind.

Strong Passwords

You probably already know that the most secure passwords are a random assortment of numbers, letters, and symbols, but you probably don’t follow those guidelines because it’s too hard to remember those ultra-secure passwords. A password manager tends to generate extremely complex passwords for each of your accounts, and these passwords cannot be shared between your accounts. Therefore, a password manager makes it more challenging for cyber-criminals to hack your password, subsequently reducing the risk of account takeover and unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Beats Browser-Based Managers

Web browsers, such as Firefox and Chrome, have their own integrated password managers, a fact that might lead you to question the wisdom of using a dedicated manager. Unfortunately, those browser-based applications tend to store passwords in an unencrypted form. This is because they are more for convenience than security – that’s fine for personal accounts, but your business deserves better.

Schedule Changes

You might have a fantastic password, but you’ll still need to change it after a few months to keep cyber security ironclad. Password managers make this easy. You’ll be able to reset your passwords easily at the touch of a button, and you should also be able to set times for your passwords to be changed periodically.