Caring for an aging or ill family member or loved one is difficult work, but it can be even more challenging when needing to access their financial and medical information. With one last password, accessing critical information is much easier – and safer.
As we all know, more and more of our daily business – both personal and professional – is moving online. At the same time, hackers are getting more aggressive (see articles here and here). Consequently, protecting your data and information is more important than ever. The first line of defense is a strong sequence of passwords. If passwords are too complex, however, they are easy to forget and then you risk being locked out of your own information.
That’s where a program like LastPass comes in handy. The program, which is free for personal use, is a secured application that stores username and password information on an encrypted system that is accessible via mobile apps and browser add-ons. Your LastPass database is secured with a password of your choosing. This password should be your most secure password, favoring length and complexity over anything.
Once logged in it has the utilities to generate secure passwords and save them in its database. Then you can simply browse to your various password-protected sites and LastPass will automatically fill in the information for you.
LastPass also has a program for famiiles. This feature does have a nomimal fee of $4 a month for up to five users, but it allows you to store and share passwords for medical accounts, entertainment and credit cards. These can be organized by family member or type of account so everyone has the access they need.
Not only is this ideal for family members with multiple accounts, but it is valuable for those caring for aging parents or loved ones. All their accounts can be managed through LastPass so that guardians have access to critical information when needed without worrying about losing various passwords or having them fall into the wrong hands.
Please let us know if we can assist you in any way.