The time between Christmas and the first work day after the New Year’s Day is a tunnel of time that most people are recovering from Christmas and planning their New Year’s resolutions. This is also a good time to review family budgets and setup a budget for the next year. Then there is something you may not of have thought of doing. That is increase you personal security.
What do I mean by personal security?
First let me ask you a simple question. How many passwords do you have, for banking, health insurance websites and other online activities?
I am most likely the exception to the rule. I have over a 100 different passwords and logins. After some research it is generally believed that the average person has around 10 different passwords and/or logins.
Some banks and other places will require you to change your password ever six months to a year. Other online website will never have you change a password unless you forget it. However, I like to take this time of the year, between Christmas and New Year’s Day to change all my passwords.
The reason why I change passwords at least once a year is to add a extra level of security. They say the biggest and fastest way to financial ruin is to have your identity stolen. This is one little thing I can to protect my family and myself.
I have a couple of friends who were afraid to change their passwords, because they were afraid they would forget them. That was until I recommend that I use a password manager.
A password manager is a program that store an encrypted file. In this file are stored all my passwords, They are encrypted on my computer, and they are also backed up on a memory stick. To access any of those password (which I know I have forgotten) I just type in one master password.
The two main password managers that I recommend. The first one is KeePass, and the second is RoboForm. They both have been around for years. The developers are constantly working to make them more secure and user friendly. Even better both KeePass and RoboForm have free and paid versions.
If you have a lot of website were you have those annoying logins and passwords, they you can use the password manager built into Firefox and Chrome.
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