Is it worth using a separate password manager vs browser saved passwords?

Had my browser saved passwords for years then tried Bitwarden last month after reading about hacking risks. Manually transferring 80 passwords was a pain but now I actually sleep better. Anyone else think the hassle is worth it or am I being paranoid?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin23d ago

Have you seen the recent study about how browser saved passwords are actually kept in plain text on your computer? That was the thing that finally pushed me to switch. I read this article from a security researcher who said if someone gets malware on your machine, they can just pull up all your browser passwords in one batch. With a password manager, at least everything is encrypted and locked behind a master password. It took me a couple hours to move everything over too, but now I don't worry about a data breach or getting hacked nearly as much.

grant82623d ago

Oh man, that's exactly what got me to switch too! Actually, it wasn't me that got burned by it, it was my buddy Dave. His kid downloaded some free game mod thing (you know how that goes) and it had malware hidden in it. Someone on Reddit told him about the browser password thing and he checked... sure enough, there was a folder on his computer with every single password he'd ever saved in Chrome just sitting there in plain text files. He said he felt sick to his stomach seeing his bank logins, his work email, everything just out in the open like that. It took him the whole weekend to change all his passwords and set up a password manager, but now he always warns everyone about it. I guess the lesson is that even if you're careful, one bad click from a family member can mess everything up.