Can password managers get hacked?
The short answer – Yes.
Does this happen often? No.
If a password manager was to get hacked, it is highly unlikely that your passwords would be at risk. The true beauty about using a password manager, is that all the content inside of your password ‘vault’, is encrypted. This means, even if the password manager is breached, your passwords remain safe. In addition, where every ‘vault’ has a master password that needs to be entered in order to unlock the master list of passwords – it is highly unlikely that a breach would ever reveal your password inventory.
Password managers use military grade encryption. Encryption known as AES 256-bit is the industry standard and what is most often used to encrypt password managers. This exact same encryption method is used by the military to keep top secret information, private and secure.
Nothing online is 100% safe, that is simply reality. However, there are some things you can do in order to ensure that your passwords are always safe – even when using a password manager.
It is a smart idea to never keep all of your passwords in your password manager. For instance, keeping passwords for financial websites and such, in your password manager, should probably not happen. Typically these types of passwords are the most important to you, so you truly wants to keep them safe. It’s best to either remember them, or write them down and keep them in a safe place at your home.
If you are going to use a password manager, make sure that they are using the latest and most secure encryptions method, as mentioned above. You don’t want to sacrifice security and safety for just a few dollars per month difference in subscription price. Remember, you do get what you pay for!
Every password manager has a master password in order to access the vault. If you are one who is forgetful, or feel that you will misplace your master password – you should either a:) use a password manager that allows you to add a point of contact in order to retrieve your master password, or b:) create some sort of phrase that will remind you of the password and write down that phrase in various places.