Episode 1 - Password Managers

This first “Episode” is both a tip and recommendation to USE A PASSWORD MANAGER. I’ve been using Bitwarden for about three years now and use the free account for personal use. The Technology Department uses a basic paid account, but we won’t go into that. Just know that I use two separate accounts, one for personal, and one for work. You can do this too, and with free accounts for both.

Password managers work much better than saving your passwords in your browser. You can run the app on your computer and phone, so passwords sync between the two. For example, signing into the ParentSquare app on your phone after saving the password on your computer. Other great things they do:

1. Import existing saved passwords from your browser

2. Compare your passwords against lists of compromised accounts and passwords and alerting you to update these

3. Store more than website passwords. You can store credit cards and secure notes and keep things like security codes, or pin numbers, or Grandma’s secret sauce recipe, and easily search them later

4. Ability to share certain passwords and/or codes. For example, if you and a significant other each have the free account, you can still share a folder of secure passwords and codes. That way if you have a website you both need to access, like a bank, or insurance provider, or kids sports team, you can both have access to that password, and when it updates, you both have the updated information.

5. Password Generator – Once you get comfortable with NEVER TYPING IN PASSWORDS again(it’s an amazing feeling) you can start to use the password generator when setting up new accounts or resetting old passwords. You generate the random password, let the password manager save it, and let the password manager enter it when it needs to be entered. 16 characters, 25 characters, symbols, numbers, whatever! You won’t care, because you won’t have to remember it and you’ll never be typing it in!

Last reason, though there are many more, using a Password Manager increases security. This is probably the most important reason, but for me, the efficiency of never typing in passwords, or having to remember them, or mistyping them, or coming up with them, is far more impactful in my day-to-day life.

I mentioned Bitwarden earlier, and highly recommend it. I haven’t use other systems other than Bitwarden, so I can’t speak to which one is better than others. I have allowed Bitwarden to be installed as an extension to your district Google accounts so you can add the extension to your district provided devices. If you have an alternate password manager you’d like to use at work and are blocked from setting it up, please let me know and we’ll review and then allow it.

Hopefully, this was useful! And no, I don’t get any kind of kickback from Bitwarden, lol!

Best,

Rich Fielding