How do I know if websites have been affected by Heartbleed? Do I have to call them or what?

Here’s a good starter list from Mashable.

You may also be able to use a test site — like filippo — to find out if a site you use is affected.

I have heard about password generators. How do they work?

Password generators create random or semi-random passwords. Here’s the password generator dialog for the password manager of DataVault:

Here's the one from OS X’s Keychain Assistant:

If it generates a password how do I retrieve that new password?

You can either look it up in your password manager and copy it to wherever you need it — or — use a password manager that can automatically fill it in where needed on any login screens.

It sounds much safer — especially compared with my system of using the same password for many sites. Do you recommend that?

No! Do NOT use the same password on multiple sites!

You can use semi-memorable passwords on many sites such that you don’t have to dig into a password manager. xkcd recommends a long, memorable password over short, random ones — see his example here.

There’s even a website dedicated to using this method — here.

But in all cases it’s worth having a secure, yet easily accessible store for all of them.

DataVault is inexpensive, runs on Mac, iOS, and Android, and you can easily sync your passwords over your local network (so they never get stored on someone else’s server) — though you can also use Dropbox or iCloud if you want to. DataVault does NOT automatically fill in passwords on websites.

1Password is pretty much the industry standard. It does everything DataVault does, plus auto-filling passwords, and it looks nicer, too.

LastPass is also frequently mentioned but we know nothing about it.

A helpful reader has also suggested using https://www.safetydetectives.com/password-meter.

You can always use iCloud Keychain if:
(a) you only need Mac and iOS support — and
(b) you only need to store website passwords for Safari.

But it’s a bit cumbersome to use at times, and it’s completely useless on iPhone if you need to look up the password for something NOT entered in a password field in Safari, e.g. the password to a secure PDF, or your ATM PIN, or anything like that. You can read about it and its limitations here.

NOTE: This page may contain out-dated information. Be certain to always check how old the information is for the above links because software gets updated and improved all the time.

Any questions?

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