What risks do users face when using password managers?

Remembering all the passwords for the accounts that are used on a daily basis can be a challenge for anyone. This ranges from the keys of the streaming services, to those of the different social networking platforms where it has a presence.

That is why it is recommended to use password managers that are in charge of both creating the key , with a security level high enough so that no hacker can discover it, and storing it for when it is needed .

According to research conducted by the Security.org website, users who do not use password managers face a three times higher risk of identity theft than those who do use password managers.

“Password managers are an important component of how we need to manage our personal security. They are designed to be used in a way that reduces our efforts to be secure, but still helps us keep our important information safe,” said Keri Pearlson, executive director of a cybersecurity research group at MIT Sloan.

However, the use of this type of program also carries a certain risk that may mean that it is not capable of fulfilling its objective of being an aid to the user and an extra layer of security for their passwords.

An example of this was the massive hack that LastPass suffered this year, one of the most important password managers in the world . This cyberattack exposed the personal information of thousands of users who trusted that their data was safe.

Among the data that hackers could potentially have access to are the names of the companies and users who contracted the service, as well as their billing and email addresses. To this is also added their telephone numbers, and the IP addresses from which they were connecting when using LastPass.

This type of problem can occur, although to a lesser extent, even in those with the best reputation in the market , so in practice it is impossible to be 100% sure when using a password manager.