In this modern-day age, everything you do calls for some kind of login, and, as a business, you have dozens of passwords for different websites and platforms. Whether it is an internal platform, the intranet access, or even communication tools, it can be difficult to remember them all.
The need for stronger and complex passwords has gone up, and this is where password managers come in handy. By only remembering a master password, you increase your security and that’s exactly how to avoid cyber-attacks.
In this complete guide, we will cover how password managers work, the different types on the market, how they work, and much more, to keep your organization safe.
What is a password manager?
A password manager is a tool that will manage all your passwords for you. The name is pretty self-explanatory; it will eliminate the need to remember tens of different passwords.
Using password manager software is easy and only requires remembering one master password. This one service will allow you to store unique passwords for every website and application and prevent reusing passwords in order to maximize security.
The master password will grant you access to all the login credentials for any website you need, all you have to do is set it up. This will increase your online security and save you from various cyber-attacks and even identity theft.
How do password managers encrypt your passwords?
Most password managers use 256-bit AES encryption military-grade level cipher. Some use the older and less secure, yet extremely hard to break AES 128-bit standard. Both of these are a type of cipher that protects the transfer of data online. AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard.
AES is one of the best encryption protocols available and it has become the industry standard. It is a symmetric type of encryption that encrypts and decrypts data using the same key.
It is so commonly used that you are probably not aware that you are using it right at this moment. It is safe enough to be used by governments and military organizations, which means that it’s great to ensure online security within your company.
Over the years some security problems appeared which made AES adopt different modes to counter these attacks. That’s one of the big reasons why modern password managers use algorithms like Salsa20 which are more straight forward to implement.
Can they get hacked?
Yes, just like any resource or platform connected to the Internet, password managers can be hacked. That being said, the hackers will gain access to your system but they will still need your master password to get your login info.
Obviously, when using a password manager like Psono, your data is encrypted. Which means that, in case of a cyber-security breach, it most likely won’t be accessed by the attacker.
How do password managers store passwords?
There are different kinds of password managers and they all use different technology and system to store data. But, generally speaking, the password is stored in the vault, protected by a master key. A password manager encrypts your credentials and only stores them in encrypted form.
This means that even in a major data breach, all this encrypted data becomes useless to the hacker.