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THE 5 BEST PASSWORD MANAGERS 2021

An average Dutch person has about 100 different accounts. You too must have quite a few. This means that you must have a different password for each account. Maybe you use the same password everywhere? Not so handy. If you get hacked somewhere, hackers can get to all your accounts, everywhere. That’s why there are password managers. These are programs that remember your passwords for you. We picked out the best for you, and have even more smart password tips.

An overview of this blog:

What is a password manager
A strong password
Top 5 best password managers
Password tips

What is a password manager?

The point is, how are you going to remember your 100 different passwords? You can start training your memory. That will work with the most commonly used passwords. But it gets tricky pretty quickly. That’s why there is a handy help: a password manager. A password manager remembers all your passwords for you. It’s a kind of safe. With a safe, the idea is that you have a key to it. Digital just the same: you create one strong password, and you remember it. But that’s the only one.

How does it work?

With a password manager, the ‘master password’ is stored in three different ways. A hacker can hardly break in there. But: you have to make that password difficult. So not ‘123456’! By the way, that’s still the most used most used password ever, unbelievably. And ‘welcome’ is number 4. Your password must be strong, but you must be able to remember it.

How do you make a strong master password?

Most importantly, make it long. For example: Ikwasin [year number] inFrance[your house number behind it] -> Ikwasin2009inFrance24
On this siteyou will find a list of words + codes. Roll a die five times and write down the results. Do that about five times. Look for the words. Put them one after the other and voilà: your new, strong password – consisting of five random words, so easy to remember.
If you create a new password, you cancheck it here . Is it already on this site? Then it is already being used, and you better make another one.
You can also use a password generator from your password manager. You can even specify preferences there.

Can’t anyone really reach it then? No. Only the person who knows your account password, so you. They are mainly Cloud services. All passwords have already been encrypted several times. And then they are sent encrypted to a server. So they are safer than safe in a password manager!

Why should you use it?

1) For optimum safety. And 2) for convenience. You have to sit down for the night. But then you have something! And if you create a new account somewhere after a while, your password manager will ask yourself: do you want to save this password in your password manager? So your ‘safe’ is getting fuller and you have to remember less and less.

If you have a good password manager, he will also alert you to things like: you use the same password multiple times. Or: you are using a password that has been leaked.

Passing away

Another point why you would use it: suppose you die. Is there someone who knows all your different accounts? And who knows all your login codes and passwords? If not, what happens to all your data? Tip: Use a password manager and make sure someone can find your master password if needed. Or tell the notary where your master password can be found.

Top 5 best password managers

# 1 – KeePass

+ the best
+ safer than anything, because it’s on your own PC
+ you can also use it to apply all kinds of tricks, such as throwing things into Dropbox
– the least customer-friendly: it’s a separate file, which you have to save yourself on your own pc. If your pc is gone, everything is gone.
***free

Tip: read the article about the man who lost his password and put 180 million on the line.

# 2 – Bitwarden

+ very safe
*** free

If you can do a little programming, you can see how this works. You can create your own bitware cloud. If you run your password database on your own server, you can keep your passwords in sync on all your devices. That’s great fun, especially for a techie. What Jelte likes very much, you can create and share your own passwords.

# 3 – LastPass

+ user-friendly
+ very safe
+ the last password you need to remember

– recently you can only watch LastPass on one type of device. So no longer on your mobile and your PC. If you want that, you have to take the paid version (€ 2.90 per month)

*** free

# 4 –1password

+ extensive program
+ very secure
+ option to enable two-factor authentication

*** 3 euros per month. No, it is therefore not safer :-). But by paying that monthly amount, you also know that it is well maintained.

# 5 – Password booklet

*** free
+ very safe

Pen and paper can also be used as a password manager. Make sure you choose unique passwords and keep the booklet safe. Make a copy and keep it in a safe so that you always have a backup. Store your password book when family, friends or the handyman come by.

Tip: make all passwords in the booklet start with the same word . You don’t write that word down, you remember it. If someone does get hold of the booklet, he / she still cannot log in to your accounts.

Check reviews

If you still want to use a different password manager than the one on our list, check the reviews. Most browsers also do password managers. But these are usually not recommended, because your browser (by default) works without a master password, so someone who crawls behind your computer can read all your passwords.

Pros and cons

Benefits:

A password manager can generate a password with one click that is difficult and secure. And you don’t have to remember them anymore, so very handy. With the Bitwarden password generator you can indicate your preferences. You can see that in the picture above.
Suppose you receive an email: your ING card has expired. You have saved your ING data in your password manager. If this is phishing, and you go to a phishing site, your password manager says, I don’t have a password for this – something isn’t right. This way you avoid entering your (precious!) Password on a phishing site.

Cons:

If you have lost your master password, you have lost access to your database. Then you can just start over. (If you have lost the key to your safe at home, it is also: gone = gone.)

Tips

Check if you have already been hacked.
https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords: this tool securely checks whether your password is in the database – here you can see whether you have already been hacked. For the enthusiast: you enter your password on that site. It will then be hashed in your browser. And the first six characters of that hash are sent to the server. The server returns all hashes starting with those six characters, including how many times it was found. That way your browser can see if the hash you entered already exists in the database. Without anyone watching the network traffic can see which password / hash you are checking. In this way it is ‘guaranteed’ that your password is checked securely. If you want a detailed explanation about this, please let us know. Then Jelte will tell you live.
Change your password regularly.
Change all your passwords every six months. It takes a hacker about 6 years to hack your password, so he has no chance if you create a new password every six months.
Not: Welkom1, Welkom2
Do you use Welkom1 for the Wehkamp, and Welkom2 for Conrad? They do NOT count as other passwords. It is super easy for a hacker to change the number. If a hacker sees a number after a word, he will undoubtedly increase the number and try to see if there is more to hack… And often with results.

5 BEST PASSWORD MANAGERS 2021