An Excel file, a sticky note, the browser or a password manager? Why a business needs a password manager and what to look for when choosing one.
Every employee has dozens of accounts: email, banking, accounting software, hosting, social media. The right rule — a different, strong password for every service — is impossible to follow by memory. So passwords end up in notebooks, Excel files and chat apps.
Why that isn’t safe
- Notebooks and sticky notes — anyone who walks into the office can see them; lose them and there’s no copy.
- An Excel or Word file — often unprotected and shared by email or USB stick; ransomware or a stolen laptop leaks every password at once.
- Chat apps — the password sits in the conversation for years.
- Saving in the browser — better than the above, but it stores accounts per device and isn’t designed for sharing within a team.
What a password manager does
A password manager keeps all your passwords in one encrypted place. You remember one strong “master” password; the manager remembers the rest. That makes a unique password for every service easy.
What to look for
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) on the manager itself — a must;
- Encryption — passwords must never be stored in plain text;
- Team sharing — without sending passwords by email or chat;
- Checks for weak and reused passwords;
- An activity log — who accessed what, and when;
- Backup — what happens if a device is lost.
The master password
The master password matters most. Use a long passphrase (for example, 4–5 random words), don’t reuse it anywhere else and don’t store it in a file.
💡 Tip: If you have to share a password, don’t send it over chat — use a one-time link that disappears after it’s read once.
Onboarding and offboarding
- New employees — give access only to the passwords their job requires;
- When someone leaves — remove their access to the manager the same day and change any shared passwords they knew.