My IT buddy told me to use a password manager but I ignored him for months

My friend Mike who works in IT kept telling me to get a password manager like LastPass or Bitwarden. I thought it was unnecessary until I got a notification that someone tried to log into my email from a city in Ohio I've never been to. After that scare I finally set up Bitwarden and it took maybe 20 minutes. Has anyone else had a close call that finally pushed them to change their habits?

3 comments

3 Comments

david372mo ago

The Ohio thing is exactly what did it for me too. Someone tried getting into my PayPal from Russia and I was like "ok fine I'll stop being lazy." Now I keep thinking about all those times I reused the same password across like 15 different sites without a second thought. The breach notification emails are what really got me going though, once you see your email pop up in a data leak you can't unsee it. Bitwarden has been fine, took like 15 minutes to set up and now I don't even think about passwords anymore. Funny how close calls are the only thing that make us change.

robinj291mo ago

Well now, you're telling me someone actually got into your PayPal from Russia? That would have sent me through the roof. I had a similar thing happen with an old email account a few years back, someone in Vietnam tried logging in and I felt violated for weeks. It's something about seeing that foreign IP address that really makes you sit up straight, isn't it? @david37, you're right about the breach notifications too. I get those emails now and they still make my stomach drop every single time. Did you have to change a bunch of accounts after that PayPal scare, or was it just that one that got flagged?

derekjenkins2mo ago

Holy crap, someone actually got into your PayPal from Russia? That is wild. I think I would have completely lost my mind if that happened to me. It is crazy how something that scary is the only thing that makes us actually get our act together with passwords. I have been putting off using a manager for way too long, maybe I should just do it already before something happens to me.