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Why Use A Password Manager?
“Hire” a Password Manager and outsource all the memorization and typing to an app. (It's more secure too.)
Anthony Collette
September 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Happy Tuesday! Last week we talked about how the landscape of online security has rapidly changed, and how the passwords of the past simply don’t keep us safe online. We looked into the striking example of a cybersecurity author who abandoned his successful body of work about creating and managing passwords and instead told everyone to use a Password Manager instead. |  |
We explored Modern Passwords which have three key characteristics: they’re long, complex and unique to every site, which also makes them impossible to remember.
This week we’ll continue our Brilliant At The Basics of Cybersecurity series with a deep dive into Password Managers — how they work, their strengths and limitations, and one surprising benefit that’s often overlooked.
— Anthony Collette
Founder, Loistava Information Security
Here’s a common scenario: you’re working online, totally into the flow of your work, and suddenly a website asks you to create an account and dream up (yet another!) new password. Because of last week’s post, you’re now aware that making up a password on the fly simply won’t protect your account like it did even 5-10 years ago. You need a Modern Password.
How do you make a Modern Password?
The short answer is: use a high-quality Password Manager. In effect, your goal is to push all that irritating “password hassle” off your plate by using a piece of software built expressly for the purpose of creating, memorizing and typing hundreds (or even thousands!) of awesome Modern Passwords. It’s like outsourcing all the most irritating parts of the password experience to a vendor or contractor, but in this case, it’s a specialized type of software.
Your Password Manager will create a Modern Password for you, quickly and almost effortlessly, with just a click or two. It’ll remember that new password forever, no need to even try to memorize it. And when you visit the site again, your Password Manager will type that long, complex, unique password into the website’s login page for you.
But Wait, There’s More . . .
Hackers and scammers will sometimes create fake login pages of popular websites hoping to trick users into entering their usernames and passwords. A high-quality Password Manager is able to tell the difference between a legit login page and a fake one, often when us normal Internet users can’t. That’s another benefit you’ll get every time you log into a website using your Password Manager.
But Does All Of This Make A Difference In The Real World?
We know for certain that long, complex, unique passwords are highly resistant to hacking, and we know that hackers generally don’t bother trying to hack longer, complex passwords.
Here we have high-quality evidence collected by Microsoft at scale. It shows decisively that Modern Passwords are highly effective at keeping our online accounts secure.
Using a high-quality Password Manager means you can be:
Free from the chore of thinking up passwords.
Free from the burden of memorizing passwords.
Free from the worry of forgetting passwords.
Free from the bother of typing passwords.
Free from the hassle of frequently resetting passwords.
Using a Password Manager also massively shortens the length of the interruption in your “flow” as you work online.
The World has changed so much you don’t even need to know what your passwords are, which can be a huge relief. You can eliminate 95% of the pain of passwords — right now, by using a Password Manager.
Built-In Or Standalone
OK, maybe now you’re convinced? You’ll use a Password Manager. But is it better to use a specialized app, or is it OK to use the built-in Password Manager in your browser?
Cybersecurity researchers have persuasively demonstrated that saving passwords in your browser on a Windows, Mac or Linux laptop or workstation is not secure. There’s no evidence I’m aware of which points to the same problem using the built-in Google Password Manager on a Chromebook. If you’d like to learn more, you can search online for the term “infostealers” or follow researcher Britton White on LinkedIn.
In general, you’ll get more features and more flexibility with a standalone Password Manager app.
How Do I Choose Which Password Manager To Use?
Some of the most highly respected Password Managers are 1Password, BitWarden, ProtonPass, and Dashlane.
Here’s a video showing you how you can create a password using 1Password: https://youtu.be/seMl5imFNCQ?feature=shared&t=441
If you’ve never used one before, you’ll get the hang of it quickly. Plus, once you’re all set up, your Password Manager will log you in to most accounts easily without any typing required. So not only is it secure, it’s also a huge time-saver.
Password Managers are an elegant solution to a painful problem since we definitely want to stay safe online but we’re all tired of passwords!
Next week we’ll continue our Brilliant At The Basics of Cybersecurity series with a deep dive into DiceWare Passphrases — a rock-solid technology originally developed by Arnold Reinholt, then updated and improved by researchers at the Electronic Frontier Federation (EFF).
We spend a huge portion of our lives online, so staying safe online is now a high priority.
You have the power to keep yourself safer online!
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Looking forward to connecting again next week.
— Anthony Collette
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