Secure passwords: the best tips & tools

You cannot secure your passwords enough and security starts with a cleverly considered password. Unfortunately, secure and complicated passwords are often difficult to remember. We therefore give useful tips and show tools that make it easier to use different passwords to handle your hands.

How to secure your passwords

First of all, you should save your passwords on different media so that you are protected in an emergency.

• If you want to keep your passwords on paper, write down the passwords only. Under no circumstances should you write down the password and the associated account on the slip of paper. If necessary, create a second list on which you write down the accounts in encrypted form. Of course, keep the pieces of paper separately.
• There are special "password safes" to secure your passwords, some of which you can also download free of charge.
• This password backup is an encrypted file that is hidden on your storage medium. As a rule, it is a small database in which you enter all passwords.
• You save the file with a so-called master password, which should really be very sophisticated. One trick is, for example, to take the first few letters of an imagined sentence and to add special characters and numbers to the whole thing. Under no circumstances should the combination of characters be guessable for third parties. With an analog backup on paper you should be more careful here.
• In addition, you should never open the password file when you are online. Always disconnect the Internet connection beforehand.
• If you are afraid that you will forget the master password, dismember it and only ever write a part of the password on a piece of paper. Of course, keep the pieces of paper separately.
• Similarly, you can of course hide the password in pieces in different files. However, this increases the risk that the password will be found. It is better to write down a note hidden in a file from which an unauthorized person cannot draw any conclusions.
• The Steganos Password Manager is also popular. This is even available as an app for mobile phones and can be integrated into all known web browsers, but also costs 20 euros in the full version.