Storing Passwords Securely

Most websites nowadays require an account to be registered before you can use their services. That means you need to provide at least an email, a password and potentially other personal information with it. I'm self-conscious about registering my details on too many websites because you can never be too sure if the data will be kept safe and secure. Trust is important because the expectation is that the information will be handled responsibly. Unfortunately, a data breach can happen at any moment which means that with more account registrations over time, the risk of being affected by a data breach becomes more likely.

That's where websites like Have I Been Pwned? become useful because it lets you check if your email has been discovered in any data breaches. It has all kinds of information like what type of breach it was, the date of breach and the kind of information that was leaked. If you notice any of your accounts have been breached then the first action is to change your password. We should be smart about the passwords we use, make them as complex and lengthy as possible but definitely do not use the same password for every website! Data breaches give us a good idea why using the same password is not a good idea. When passwords are compromised in data breaches, they are usually leaked in hashed form. If a common password is used then it becomes vulnerable to techniques like rainbow table attacks. This technique uses a precomputed table containing a list of common hashed passwords which can then be used to quickly decrypt and gain access to accounts.

Best way to manage complex passwords is with a reliable password manager which can be used to store passwords for all websites so you don't need to write them down or remember them at all. Generally, the password manager requires a master password that unlocks access to all stored passwords. As it is the key to all your other passwords, it's important to make this password as lengthy and complex as possible.