I started off the day with an extortion letter. Someone managed to grab a password I used 10+ years ago. This person (or possibly even company/country, this email was surprisingly well written) thinks that I'll wire them 7000 USD in Bitcoin to keep them from sending supposedly ‘incriminating' videos to my contacts…. because they have access to my computer and my webcam… yeah, sure.
Clever- but not going to happen. They don't have access to my computer, but they do have my attention!

I know the hack that brought this to light- and a lot of people were involved. So a lot of people are going to get this email and very likely try to send the ransom.
The sad thing is that people like these extortionists that would be better off putting their skills to valuable work… will probably make a lot of money from FEAR. I mean- they emailed me the password. There's no mystery that they have it. But I'm not concerned. I know this was from years go. I already took action. They can't get into my accounts and they know it. All they have is an old password and an email account!
But why did I already know that people had this password?

Why I Use Dashlane

This is why I use Dashlane for storing passwords. Here's some hastily written bullet points and some of my practices in using the software…
  • Every website gets their own password
  • Passwords are stored automatically, and most importantly you can have it generate the password for you so you aren't even aware of what it is at all
  • Passwords are stored in the cloud but the decrypt password is NOT stored in the cloud (decryption is done at the device level only, so only an encrypted file is stored)
  • It syncs across devices so I don't have to write passwords down anywhere or store them any other way
  • I was able to import from my Google password sync and KeePass accounts
  • Lets you know when passwords are re-used (crucial for this particular hack, I can see where that password is used and take the appropriate action)
  • You can optionally have this login for you automatically per site (not globally) which is great for me because I often have 5 or more accounts on a single SSO portal like Microsoft or Citrix.
  • They have a VPN now- if you're at a coffee shop or whatever, you can use Dashlane's VPN to secure the connection automatically.
  • Browser extensions for Chrome, IE, Safari, Firefox and now even Edge.
  • Store and autofill other information, not just password but address- even credit cards if you want to.
  • Darkweb monitoring tells me my overall score, and how many times I'm using safe, reused, weak or compromised passwords. It now even monitors email accounts on the darkweb and lets you know what hack was involved.
  • One of my favorite features: I can securely SHARE passwords with others either on my team or that I know personally. So for my Virtual Assistants- I can give them access to use Dashlane for certain websites without having to give them the actual password or logon. The plugin fills it in for them.
  • Family emergency access. Another favorite feature of mine; this allows you to declare trusted people that can get access to your account if needed.

Why am I saying all this? I've been using this service for well over a year now and I'm pretty happy with it. Someone referred me. I refer people all the time. But I thought I'd go a little further today. At the time of this writing, Dashlane is giving you $20 off, and giving me $20 off for the referral. I figure this is a great way to let people support my efforts while I give them a valuable tool I actually use! Will your price be different thru this link? Nope. You could go get it right now on your own and I'll be happy for you. I'd rather see you using good tools to protect your information online.

And if I'm wrong and everyone I know gets a clever video of me supposedly watching a porn site, I'll humbly bow to their hacking prowess. But for now, I'm not about to be bullied, extorted or live in fear because they had a password I used once- and NEITHER SHOULD YOU. But this did get my heart rate up a bit today, I'll be honest and say I find myself even now thinking what it would be like if I didn't have this service. In fact, I'm also thinking I may just take them up on their Premium Plus plan that offers identity theft protection. It's about $5 more per month.

Don't get bullied or give into extortionists. Fight back with the right tools to manage your online passwords. Click To Tweet

Oh- and you can use Dashlane for free for up to 50 passwords. I have it managing over 1000, but who's counting? (spoiler- the app is)

More About Security To Come

Sometime soon I may go into more detail about my practices for client passwords (I use individual KeePass databases for that purpose- that way I can delete and wipe the file when the engagement period is up), and more importantly some tools that you can use in your Citrix environments (I don't recommend Dashlane for VDI per se, though I haven't really tested it either…) as soon as I get the partnerships in place for them. keep a weather eye on the horizon for that!

But on your personal devices: Use a password manager and NEVER repeat passwords. Change them up every so often and for the love of all that is awesome don't discount the power of Multi-Factor authentication when using powerful tools like this!!!

That referral link is :

https://www.dashlane.com/cs/XG_FFeXPM9t9

But here's my question:

Would you find discussions about security, Multi-Factor Authentication and others useful? Comment, Tweet or let me know otherwise!

Cheers!

Insert usual legal disclaimer here… I'm suggesting a product based on my expertise that, if you sign up, will benefit me financially and you for the product itself. If that's offensive to you somehow, go to their site directly. Or use another service. Just use something!
This was not a paid advertisement and was not solicited by Dashlane or anyone else.
I just felt like writing a blog article this morning and I remembered I could refer people!