How I Use a Password Manager as a College Student

Since starting my internship at Keeper Security, I’ve had the opportunity to enter into the world of cybersecurity, particularly surrounding the role of password management. This eye-opening experience has not only educated me on the dangers of an unprotected online presence, but it’s also encouraged me to follow cybersecurity best practices in my personal and academic life. 

Keeper Password Manager has quickly become an essential tool that has enhanced my online safety, which is especially important to me as a college student. Here are some ways my password manager helps me as a college student.

It helps me generate strong and unique passwords 

Managing login credentials for various online resources is a common challenge for most college students. From accessing my institution’s web portal to the learning management system, online textbooks and other online resources, each website and application has different password requirements. This makes it difficult to create, track and remember passwords myself. With just a click of a button, my password manager generates strong and unique passwords for each of my online accounts while helping me meet the password requirements since it allows me to adjust the password length and the types of characters used in the password. 

It stores all my passwords and files

One of my favorite features of my password manager is its storage capabilities. Not only does Keeper store your login credentials, but it also stores files, documents, photos and videos. Personally, I rely on my password manager to store my student ID numbers, resume, academic projects, health insurance card, Social Security number and financial aid documents. These are all confidential but important documents that I often catch myself needing in various situations as a college student. Knowing that my sensitive documents are completely encrypted ensures that they remain safe, providing me with peace of mind. 

It helps me securely share my passwords and files

As a college student living away from my family, it’s challenging to gain access to family passwords and confidential files. However, my password manager offers a solution through its record-sharing feature. This not only allows me to easily share my records with trusted individuals, like my family, but it also ensures my data remains safe because of its zero-knowledge encryption. A perk of using Keeper Password Manager is that even if the person I want to share a password or file with doesn’t use Keeper, I can still send records securely by using Keeper’s One-Time Share feature while still ensuring my data remains encrypted. 

For instance, during tax season, my dad needed my Form 1098-T, a confidential financial document that only I had access to. Using my password manager, I securely uploaded the document as a file and clicked on the One-Time Share option which generated a shareable link. This link allowed my dad to access the document securely without needing a password manager, plus it gave me the option to set an expiration on the link so I had full control over it.

It autofills my login credentials

Autofill is one of the most convenient features in a password manager, particularly for college students managing numerous accounts. Anytime I land on a website or application that requires me to log in, my password manager automatically fills in my credentials for me. This makes my login process so much easier and faster, plus it eliminates the frustration of manually typing out complex passwords. Because of my password manager, I can focus more on my studies rather than dealing with the hassle of logging in. 

It protects against phishing attacks 

College students are quite vulnerable to phishing attacks; many of these phishing emails and messages look like they are from the school. These phishing attempts are very deceptive, tricking college students into revealing their login credentials and other sensitive information. I encounter several phishing emails a week via my college email account and it can be challenging to distinguish if the message is legitimate or malicious. Thankfully, my password manager provides a solution against phishing attacks since it never autofills credentials on malicious websites. If I ever click on a link and my login credentials do not automatically fill in, I know that I need to exit the website immediately because it’s not legitimate. 

It makes it easy to access my passwords from multiple devices

Lastly, my favorite part about having a password manager is how accessible it is. Since my password manager is compatible with all my devices, I can simply log in using my master password and my records will sync seamlessly. This means I can access my online accounts and records from anywhere and on any device.

The best password manager for students 

Before joining Keeper, my approach to password management was very weak and insecure. I was used to writing down my passwords in my notes app and often reused the same password across multiple online accounts, leaving me vulnerable to password-based cyber attacks.

With Keeper’s zero-knowledge and zero-trust security architecture, I feel comfortable and content trusting a password manager to securely store my passwords and sensitive information. Keeper stands out to be the best password manager for college students, even offering a 50% student discount to recognize the vulnerabilities that we face. 

Don’t wait to integrate password management into your digital life. Whether it’s for personal, school or professional use, it’s important to start securing your data as soon as possible because you never know when a cybercriminal could target you.