TIL that password manager I ignored for years saved my butt in 20 minutes

I got a call from my bank last Tuesday saying someone tried to log into my account from a coffee shop in Boise. I don't live anywhere near Idaho. That got me spooked, so I finally sat down and set up Bitwarden on my phone and laptop. It took maybe 20 minutes to replace all my reused passwords with random generated ones. I had been using the same password for like 10 different sites since 2016. Now I can't even remember my Netflix password, but I don't have to. The weird part is I felt dumb it took a near miss to get me to do something this simple. Anybody else have a close call that finally pushed them into better habits?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_barnes9d ago

Oh man, been there. I ignored it for years until my email got hacked and someone sent spam to everyone I knew. That was the wakeup call for me too. For Bitwarden, make sure you set up the two-factor auth on your vault itself otherwise the whole thing is pointless if someone gets your master password. Also, save that emergency sheet they give you when you first set it up. I printed mine and stuck it in a drawer. The peace of mind is honestly worth more than the 20 minutes it takes to fix everything.

henry_webb689d agoTop Commenter

Peace of mind" is real, just don't forget your master password or you're locked out forever.