The importance of a password manager, especially for developers
Have you ever heard of Kevin Mitnic? According to the Numerama website: “For many geeks and neophytes alike, the man is considered the most famous hacker in the world”. Also known as “The Darkside Hacker”, he managed to thwart the security systems of the biggest technology firms of his time, including Nokia and Sun Microsystems. Just for fun and adrenaline!
Computer geniuses like Mitnic still exist today, and are even more and more numerous. And in most cases, they have much more malicious goals such as data theft and corruption or even espionage. It therefore becomes imperative to use advanced protection systems to avoid any incident with significant repercussions. At Appwapp, we recommend that you use a password manager, especially if you are a developer.
A password manager: what is it?
The name of this tool already explains its purpose: to manage passwords. According to the CIRA.ca website: “A password manager is an application that generates and saves long and complex passwords for your online accounts, while protecting your information such as passwords, PINs , credit card numbers and answers to your security questions thanks to an extremely strong encryption system”.
In practice, with a password manager, the user only has to remember a master password to access his account. The tool takes care of the rest.
Your own password database
Scanning and passwords go hand in hand. We need passwords to access our work platform, the various programs we use or our network accounts. Passwords always more and more numerous and more and more complex…
For optimal security, it is recommended to use a long string of randomly generated characters as passwords. In this way, they are difficult to hack. In addition, it is highly recommended to create a different password for each platform to avoid compromising all your accounts if ever one of them is hacked.
Difficult to memorize everything!
The problem? It is very difficult, if not impossible, to memorize them all, especially for developers who often have to manage a multitude, up to thousands, of passwords. Yet storing them on paper or in a digital notebook is risky. This is why you need to use a password manager.
According to the LOGITHEQUE site, there is no longer “any risk of forgetting this data or losing it: you can therefore delete the sources containing this information, which must remain private.”
Thus, the password manager allows the company to provide better privacy and data security. Forbes highlights another usefulness of this system: “Password managers offer you to generate secure passwords. You will no longer have to think about whether the password you design is strong enough, the software will generate it automatically”.
Safety first: caution and vigilance are the watchwords
A password manager is a security tool for classifying usernames and passwords across different accounts. With a focus on developers who use a lot more than normal. Remembering thousands of passwords is impossible.
Be careful though! It happens in rare cases that a password manager gets hacked. The incidents that occurred at the giant LastPass during 2022 prove this. According to the frandroid site (in August 2022), “Hackers were able to recover access to a developer account and took the opportunity to steal source code and certain proprietary technical information from LastPass ”.
Nevertheless, this episode remains a huge exception to the rule. Also, even if a password manager is hacked, there are still chances that your accounts will not be compromised.
This is particularly possible if you have activated two-factor authentication for each of your accounts. Moreover, we take this opportunity to emphasize that you must systematically take this measure. Also, if you have any doubts about the integrity of your passwords, change them without thinking! At all times, exercise caution and vigilance.
Conclusion
At AppWapp, we have a team of experienced developers who code for website or mobile application projects. Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to join us!
