One capital letter. One lower case letter. One “special” character and a number. Does all of that sound too familiar? Anyone with one-line access has had to create a unique user name and password for everything from Facebook to on-line banking. Keeping track of all of these is becoming increasingly harder, especially when some sites require that you constantly change the password. Making sure that you keep track of user names and ever-changing passwords is imperative. Writing down your passwords is particularly dangerous but you need to make sure that someone else can access these passwords if you are sick or worse.
In our office, we use a password management application on our phones. This allows everyone access to a system in which you can create a file including the user name and password for all of our electronic portals. Me? I have over 160 unique entries. While this is a challenge in the business world, it is equally challenging in people’s personal lives. One of the solutions would be to do what we do as a family. Like at work, we all use the same password storage app. We all use the same unique user name and password. If my wife needs a password from my app, she knows the user name and password and can easily access the information.
No entity will release a user name or password to anyone. Think you know all of the security questions to gain access? Be prepared. Take some time to sort out the best way for you to handle this important information AND make sure those around you, who you trust, can also access this information in the event you cannot due to sickness or death.