In a previous article I commented that share passwords It is not as safe as we might think. Precisely, sharing those passwords is one of the reasons why can someone access to our files, emails, messages or documents. Someone you know or a third person. How much less exposed are our passwords, the more secure they will be.
But it has happened to all of us at some point that we have no choice but to share a key or password with someone. Good because we share the access to the same service such as online storage or email. Or because it is a paid service that allows you to share passwords. Be that as it may, share a password or access code it has its risks. And that is why we must take precautions.
Let’s see different ways to share passwords securely. It will help you whether you share secret passwords at work or at home, with your family or with friends. The goal is to minimize the danger of your secret keys circulating beyond you. But before, be prepared.
Precautions before sharing passwords
Any precaution is little. So before sending that password to someone elseTry to take into account the following actions. They are not infallible but yes you will make it more difficult if someone finds out that password and wants to use it without your permission. Or if the person with whom you share passwords is not as trustworthy as it seems. Or, simply, if that person has had the password you sent them stolen.
- a password for each account. Don’t recycle keywords.
- Change the password With some frequency.
- Change the password if you have quarreled or broken relationship with whom you shared passwords.
- don’t save passwords in sightneither physically nor digitally.
- Activate the two-step authentication on all your accounts.
These are some precautions. In this article you will find a few more. And now let’s see how to share those passwords if you have no choice. Remember to do it with the smallest number of people, make sure they are totally trustworthy and/or warn them of the dangers of sharing passwords so that prepare just like you.
Password managers are the best allies for save secret keys. In addition, they are now available on most devices, integrate with applications and web browsers, and offer additional services such as generate strong passwords or, for example, share passwords securely.
Managers as popular as 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane, Keeper, Bitwarden either RoboForm They have functions to share keys between family, friends or co-workers. It is about each member of a group or team having their own private account and, at the same time, having a space to share certain passwords. Among its peculiarities, in this shared space you can see who has access and how many times they have accessed. So if there is one security breachit will be easier to detect where it started.
This function is usually paid, but it is worth it. And in addition to secret keys, it also serves to keep notes with sensitive information. On the other hand, current password managers check whether the keys you store appear in leaksso that you will receive a notice to change that password as soon as possible.
This method is not recommended, but it is more comfortable and cheaper than the previous one. It is about taking advantage of applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat either Signal have of temporary or disappearing messages after a few seconds. That, together with the default encryption of messages, should help a little to prevent the password from falling into the wrong hands. But we shouldn’t happily share secret keys over instant messaging. And much less by email.
Thus, if there is no other choice, we can send a password through a private conversation in one of the mentioned applications. To give you some more security, we should turn on temporary messages. In WhatsApp, for example, are activated by clicking on the contact icon, within the conversation. Then we click on temporary messages and we indicate when they will disappear. The shortest option is the best. That is, 24 hours. In Telegram, you can open private chats directly. And in your settings, you have the option to self destruct in time interval that you choose
Partial sharing across multiple channels
In the style of secret agents, the best way to share something important it is something in parts. So that you only have the complete information if you put all those parts together. To understand us: use different ways of communication to provide the password. This ensures that the password safely reaches the right person. And that if that password falls into the wrong hands, it will be for other reasons.
There are different ways to split password. For example, indicate which service or product responds to that password, provide the associated email address and, finally, the password. Three parts. And, to give you more security, that password can be split into two or more parts. Later, each part of the message (service + username + password) we send it through different sources: email, instant messaging, private messages on social networks… Each source, a part of the message. No relationship between them.