Common sense would tell us that the old mantra of never sharing your password still holds true, even as of today. However, because of the changes in technology and the ever-transforming face of cyberspace, secure password sharing has already become commonplace among users. This is true both for personal and professional relationships. Nowadays, it’s no longer about not sharing your password, but rather how you can share a password securely.
Sharing could be between friends, family, or even among employees in a company. The common thread here is that the person that you are sharing it with must be trusted or at least be part of the circle that is considered trustworthy.
Some Qualified Reasons on Why You Might Share Your Secure Password
Paying your bills
Watching movies from paid video streaming sites like Netfliz, or iTunes.
Management of online medical portal for doctor’s appointments and health records
Wifi password being shared among family members.
Online Banking
and many others
The more that technology advances the more reason for us to share that ever-important piece of information that can open up worlds for either friend or foe.
How to Share Password Securely
Use a Password Manager
Getting to the meat of the matter, nowadays the most secure way you can share your password is by using a password manager. A password manager is a digital service that helps you securely store your most important passwords and share them as well. It encrypts and locks your password so you can confidently share it with others without compromising the safety of your data.
What is convenient about this tool is it allows you to remember only one password to access all of your other different passwords. By all accounts, you will have a master password. It encrypts your password right when you share it with another person so that it doesn’t get intercepted on the way to its destination. No more emailing, or sending direct messages using popular messaging platforms.
Other Ways of Sharing Your Password Securely
Verbally communicate your password
Say it in person or over the phone – even though this might seem like a foolproof method, you never know who might overhear and use the information for malicious purposes..
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Use encrypted emails
Although it seems like a good option, using email to send passwords, encrypted or not, cannot compare to using a password manager in terms of security. Not by a long shot.
Vault File
Use a vault file in sending your passwords. A vault file lets you store passwords, usernames, addresses, and some notes all in one single file. It is then secured by encryption, and protected by a password. The way it reaches your recipient has to be chosen very carefully, though, as it might be intercepted before it reaches the destination – and the encryption will not be updated before the hacker manages to break it.
Other Important Features of the Password Manager
Enterprise or Business accounts will let you share login data between individuals and teams along with permissions that can be customized. The administrator of the account can choose who can access which folders, and also have the capability to make changes that automatically sync.
An account holder can also share password information in a single file with other users. This type of account is perfect for small businesses, startups, and even among friends and family members.
As cloud technology expands, many users now take advantage of the convenience and security it offers. Net to mention the savings it offers them. Nowadays, a password manager in a cloud allows multiple users to securely log on from multiple locations. This is a great improvement from when in the past it was mostly localized and only allowed users to log on just from the company premises.
Additionally, you can also set permission for your account in a way that a person can either only view it, maybe edit, or share it with others. As an administrator-user, you are in full control over how your members are able to access the group’s password data. Including setting limitations on what they can and cannot access.
In some password managers, passwords are encrypted with a public key where only the owner can decrypt it using a private user key. Furthermore, some enterprise-level password managers let large teams and companies share passwords and even some information with bigger groups of people. These kinds of password managers also allow for syncing passwords within a team. Just in case anyone needs to change a password, it automatically gets updated for everyone else.
Last but not least, an enterprise-level password manager can send a security alert to users whenever an account may have been compromised.
Which Type Would be Considered a Secure Password?
A unique and complex password
Make sure that you create a password that is totally different from all your other passwords and not made out of ordinary words that can be found in the dictionary. You should add numbers and special characters to it, as well as use upper and lower cases from the alphabet.
Avoid using 1 password for all your accounts or a variation of that password.
This is to avoid compromising all your other accounts in case of a breach. Also, it serves to prevent hackers from guessing your password that is in proximity to your other existing passwords.
Use long passwords
You can use at least 10 characters so that hackers will have a hard time cracking it
Use password managers
This way your army of secure passwords is encrypted and organized.
Use a password generator
This is your best bet at making unique and strong passwords. This tool uses a set of algorithms that produce random sets of characters that you can use as passwords.
Use passphrases
Yes, you can string together a bunch of totally random words and make it as your password.
Example: °ocean foot uncle graded tennis jump. Although using dictionary words is a no-no in generating passwords, hackers tend to be bad at cracking random words strung together.
Overall, you can start evaluating your team’s security when it comes to handling your company’s passwords. Are you confident about it? Or maybe you feel something needs to be done.
If you don’t have a password manager as of yet consider acquiring one. Because, the initial expense of subscribing to a premium or enterprise password manager is nothing compared to a possible breach of your company data. Either way, every company, including yours, needs to find a way to do secure password sharing.