Where Not To Store Your Passwords

If you have multiple e-mail accounts, multiple Twitter accounts or if you often join new sites & need to store your passwords, here are some places I won’t recommend you to store your passwords.

1. In a document or spreadsheet

This is the most common place people use to store their passwords & thus it’s the unsafest place to store passwords as well! Documents & spreadsheets are not encrypted & even if you password protect your document, it can’t offer security which is offered by tools specifically made to store passwords. All that a hacker needs to do to get access to your document or spreadsheet in which you have stored the passwords is to hack your computer. As the passwords aren’t encrypted, it’s very easy for a hacker to open the files & get the passwords.

2. In a diary

I am not sure how many of you do this. But if you are one of those storing your passwords in a diary, avoid doing that. Though storing passwords in a diary is safe as compared to storing your passwords in a software or storing your password online, it’s not a reliable way to store passwords. A diary can be misplaced easily & all your passwords will be lost. If you are sure you won’t misplace your diary, you can use this method to store your passwords. Never reveal the location of the diary to anyone & avoid giving the diary titles such as passwords, secure, do not touch, etc. People generally act oppositely!

3. Printed files

Avoid printing your passwords. Printing may help you store your passwords, but just imagine if one of your password sheets gets mixed with a bunch of papers & gets lost, what will happen? You will no doubt lose all your passwords, but you never know, your accounts can even be hacked if a wrong person finds the sheet!

4. In your mobile phone memo

Many people have a habit of storing their passwords on their mobile phones. While this method can be considered safe if you store your passwords in a password protected application and unless you lose your mobile phone. Avoid using apps like “Memo” or “Calendar” to store your passwords instead use a password storer. The problem with Memo & Calendar is that they can be seen & used by everyone and if you have alerts enabled in your mobile, you can expect your calendar to pop-up passwords on the day you saved them! It’s damn risky!

I have found a cool video on this topic as well. You may like to watch it.