Ok, it’s time to have a serious conversation about your computer security. When 6.5 million passwords were hacked at LinkedIn, we all had a wake up call about our passwords and web habits. One of the most common mistakes we make, besides picking passwords that are too easy, is that we use the same password for multiple sites. And if a bad guy has our username and password from one site, he could try the password out on other sites and eventually get to some pretty valuable information.

YUCK!

It’s time to truly take charge of your password and internet security issues. LastPass is a free, cloud-based tool that allows you to create one master password to gain access to all your sites. Further, I love that as soon as you install it, it scrapes all the sites in your browser history to show you just how many you have and how insecure you really are.

I am registered on 121 sites right now, and 81 of those had the same password. What’s  more,  this  password  was  one  I  had  been  using  since  at  least  2005,  the   six‐letter  name  of  a  family  member. Bad, bad nerd! I downloaded LastPass, and I’m slowly working my way through all the sites, replacing  the  ridiculously  easy   passwords  with  LastPass‐generated  ones  that,  according  to   howsecureismypassword.net,  would  take  password­‐hacking  software  more  than  a  year   to  figure  out.

It’s a little disconcerting to put everything in LastPass’ hands, but cnet, PCWorld and lifehacker all give it a thumbs up.

My advice: Computer security can’t wait until you have a free afternoon to spare. Make time to make these changes this week so you can rest assured that you’re a little safer online.

LastPass and How Secure is My Password made Beth’s Top Security list!

Here’s a video overview of LastPass:

LastPass – Password Manager, Form Filler, Password Management.