JOSH JOURNAL ML SPECIAL THE BOOK CLUB

Password Managers And Their Wahala – Josh Journal

Password managers are services that are meant to make the internet-based life of the modern human easier.
Considering how often we are warned not to use the same password for multiple websites or services, you can understand how easy it is to forget your password.

Now add to that the fact that picking a password today, is now an extreme sport.
First, your password must be over eight characters. Secondly, it must include a combination of letters and numbers.

Thirdly, the letters involved must be a combination of capital and small numbers. Fourthly, the password cannot be similar to your username.
Finally, you must include special characters in your password.

Very quickly, people began to run out of ideas for what to use as passwords.
I remember when they said your password has to be something meaningful to you. Now, the more useless and unrelated your password is to you, the more secure it is supposed to be.

These days, every website has a “secure-meter” on its sign-up page. As soon as you start creating your password, it begins to measure how secure your password is.
The meter displays red if your password is insecure, yellow if it is “manageable”, and green if it is “Fort Knox” secure.

On most websites, unless you get your password to at least level yellow, you cannot sign up.
In some cases, it is like the meter is mocking your inability to come up with a “nonsense” combination of keyboard strokes to confuse it.

Honestly, my only advice for creating a secure password now is to go with an African name. Not just any name, but those that you are sure the computer has never heard.
If you can go with an Ijaw, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Benin, Jos, or Efik name, you should be fine.

Imagine how impossible it is first to create enough of these passwords, and then to remember them. That is one of the biggest challenges before the internet age human.
All of this is not including encrypted passwords like those used for cryptocurrency. Imagine the number of people who can’t access their cryptos now worth millions because they’ve forgotten the password.

This is where password managers come in to save the day.
Password managers are services that store all of your passwords, ensuring you don’t have to waste brainpower on such anymore.
They are supposed to be an answer to all your prayers unless you forget the password to your password manager account.
Then your prayer point is bigger than ever.

If you think your biggest worry with password managers is that you might forget your password, then you are mistaken.
Considering how valuable passwords are in this day and age, you can understand why password managers come under a large number of hack attacks every year.

Each time there is a news of data breach or a large dump of passwords and identity somewhere on the dark web, I can almost imagine someone somewhere getting a heart attack.
Currently, if a hacker stumbles into my bank account, after seeing my transaction history, they might be tempted to take pity on me and drop something because there is nothing to take. You can understand why I’m not so worried about such news.

My only problem with such news is that after each attack, the password managers would notify me. Next, they’ll start bugging me to change my password.
Apparently, continuing to use the same password on services after my password manager has been compromised is a big risk.

Hold on. Your system was compromised, not mine, but I’m the one that needs to change my password. Shouldn’t it be the other way round?
Should I even be trusting you with my password? This is the bank tying their biros in the banking hall all over again.

Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
You can follow him on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL