• kevincox@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    Tips for being secure online:

    1. Use your browser’s password manager to generate random passwords.
    2. In the rare case you need to manually enter your password into a site or app be very suspicious and very careful.
    3. Never give personal information to someone who calls or emails you. If necessary look up the contact info of who called you yourself and call them back before divulging and details. Keep in mind that Caller ID and the From address of emails can be faked.
    4. Update software regularly. Security problems are regularly fixed.

    That’s really all you need. You don’t even need 2FA, it is nice extra security but if you use random passwords and don’t enter your passwords into phishing sites it is largely unnecessary.

    • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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      4 months ago

      Im not so sure about your number 1. Fine if otherwise they won’t use one but personally I use bitwarden online for unimportant ones and a local keypass for important ones.

      • kevincox@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        The reason I say browser password manager is two main reasons:

        1. It is absolutely critical that it checks the domain to prevent phishing.
        2. People already have a browser and are often logged into some sort of sync. It is a small step to use it.

        So yes, if you want to use a different password manager go right ahead, as long as it checks the domain before filling the password.

        • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          What do you mean a password manager that checks the domain? Isn’t the auto fill based on the domain? I can’t imagine how a password manager could fill a password without checking the domain, it wouldn’t know which password to fill after all. Do any actually exist?

          • kevincox@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            There are some password managers where you need to either manually look up passwords and copy+paste or autotype them or select the correct password from a dropdown. Some of these will come with an optional browser extension which mitigates this but some don’t really tract domain metadata in a concrete way to do this linking.

            Some examples would be Pass which doesn’t have any standard metadata for domain/URL info (although some informal schemes are used by various tools including browser-integration extensions) and KeePass which has the metadata but doesn’t come with a browser extension by default.

            • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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              4 months ago

              I see, so you mean manually getting the password out of the manager instead of domain based autofill.