How to Keep Passwords Safe and Organized

Updated on November 16, 2023.

The best way to keep your passwords safe and organized is by using a dedicated password manager. With a password manager, you can securely store your passwords in one place and protect them from security breaches. If you use insecure password management methods, you put your passwords at risk of cyber attacks that can result in losing access to your accounts.

Continue reading to learn why you should use a dedicated password manager over other password management techniques.

What Is a Password Manager?

A password manager is a tool that securely stores and manages your personal information in an encrypted vault. It allows you to safely store information such as login credentials, credit cards, addresses and other sensitive data.

With a password manager, you only have to remember one master password to access your vault. Some password managers will also identify weak passwords saved in your vault and have a built-in password generator to strengthen and replace them. Password managers make logging in to your accounts easier and protect you from cyber attacks such as password spraying and spoofing attacks.

How a Password Manager Keeps Passwords Safe and Organized

A password manager keeps your passwords secure and organized. It also offers added benefits such as secure password sharing and autofilling capabilities.

Keeps your passwords organized

With a password manager, you can securely store all of your passwords in one place and easily track them. Rather than storing your passwords in multiple locations, your passwords can be easily accessed in your vault. A password manager stores your passwords within records, and you can organize these records into categorized folders to make them easy to find and access. If you want to change a password, your password manager will assist you and update the associated record with the new password.

Protected by a master password

Dedicated password managers are protected by multiple layers of data encryption. Everything stored inside the password manager is stored within an encrypted vault. Encryption makes the stored information unreadable to anyone without access to your vault. The only way to gain access to the vault and decrypt the information is by entering the master password. The master password is the only password a user has to remember to access the rest of their passwords and stored information.

Supports MFA

With a password manager, you can enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to protect your password vault. MFA is a security measure that requires you to provide additional forms of identification. By enabling MFA, you can protect your password vault from any unauthorized users who can’t verify your identity. 

Promotes strong passwords

A password manager enables you to have strong and unique passwords across all of your accounts. With a password manager, you can perform a password audit to test the strength of your passwords and change any that are susceptible to password-related attacks. Whenever you need to change your passwords, a password manager can assist you by suggesting stronger passwords and updating them in your password vault.

Some password managers have dark web monitoring tools that identify and alert you if any of your passwords have been found on the dark web. It will then prompt you to change your passwords to avoid having your accounts compromised.

Autofills passwords

Most password managers offer an autofill feature that makes logging in to your accounts much easier. The password manager stores the URL of the login pages for your accounts and will automatically fill in your login credentials whenever you land on the login page. This autofill feature also helps avoid spoofing attacks that try to trick you into thinking you are on a legitimate website. If you land on a fake website, your password manager will not autofill your login credentials because the URL will not match the one stored in the vault.

Available across multiple devices

Unlike other password management methods, a dedicated password manager is available across multiple devices, regardless of the device or browser you are using. You can access your passwords anytime and anywhere. 

Secure password sharing

There are times when you may have to share a password for personal or professional reasons. A dedicated password manager allows you to securely share your passwords with others. Keeper®, a dedicated password manager, even lets you share passwords with third-party users with its secure one-time share feature.

Store additional information

A password manager can store personal data inside its encrypted vault other than just passwords. It can store credit card numbers, passports, addresses and other personal information that you need to keep secure.

Password Management Methods You Should Avoid

Commonly used password management techniques often lack security and can be inconvenient. Here are some of the techniques you should avoid.

Writing passwords down on paper

A commonly used tactic to keep track of passwords is to write them down on paper, a notebook or sticky notes. Writing your passwords down may seem convenient but it comes with many security risks. It can lead you to leave your written passwords in unsecured locations, making them vulnerable to being stolen. Additionally, it is cumbersome to manually enter all of the characters in a long, strong password when logging in to an account.

Writing down your passwords also makes it difficult to keep your passwords organized. Manually writing and updating passwords for all of the websites an average person visits is almost impossible. You can easily lose track of your passwords and even mix them up.

Using an Excel spreadsheet

Some people use an Excel spreadsheet to store passwords and usernames. Although Excel is versatile, it was not designed with password management in mind and has several vulnerabilities. Excel files are often unencrypted which puts your passwords at risk of being compromised. For example, if your device is ever compromised, the threat actor would also have access to your spreadsheet which they can use to infiltrate your online accounts. 

Saving passwords in your web browser

Using your browser’s built-in password manager is another popular method of storing passwords. However, browser-based password managers don’t offer the same security as dedicated password managers. If a cybercriminal gets a hold of your device, they could easily access your passwords since your passwords are only secured on the device level. If you’re someone who typically doesn’t log out of the browser, and a cybercriminal gets hold of your device, they will have access to all of your saved accounts.

Browser password managers were built as a convenient way of logging in, rather than a tool to protect your login credentials. Although browser password managers can suggest strong passwords, they won’t identify any weak passwords and won’t strengthen them. They also won’t alert you if your passwords have been compromised or found on the dark web. Your passwords could remain exposed without your knowledge.

Keep Your Passwords Organized and Safe with Keeper®

A dedicated password manager is the best way to organize and protect your passwords. With a password manager, you can easily access all of your passwords in one secure place. It often comes with many automated features that make securing and organizing your passwords much easier.

Keeper Password Manager offers a secure way to store and manage your passwords. It uses zero-knowledge encryption to ensure that only you have access to your personal information. 

Sign up for a free trial to keep your passwords safe and organized.