A college student's guide to better digital security

Do you prefer a short flight or a long drive? Do you have an undiscovered love for esports? Do you look good with bangs and, if not, do you look good in hats?

College is the perfect time to learn and discover new things about yourself, in the classroom and beyond. It’s also the perfect time to learn how to keep all of that information safe.

Starting college means that you’re creating and responsible for more data than ever before. You’re spinning up new logins for your school accounts, booking your own travel, managing your legal documents, making your own appointments, and maybe even opening your first bank account.

Every one of these interactions presents you with a choice: are you going to set up a secure and organized system for managing your logins and data? Or…are you going to keep re-using the same password you’ve had since middle school? In the moment, it can seem like you’re choosing between “secure but a hassle” and “risky but convenient.” But that’s a false choice, because good security habits actually make your life easier in the long run. (And let’s face it, you’ve probably already wasted enough time trying to remember if your old standby password currently ends in a “1” or an exclamation point.)

One more question: what’s the best tool to help you get started on your security journey? For once, the answer is simple: it’s a password manager.

How password managers help college students stay secure

Online security depends on using strong, unique passwords for every account. That way, just because your roommate shares your Netflix password with all of their friends, it doesn’t mean that your student aid login is at risk as well.

Despite this, people still recycle old passwords, even after they’ve been the victim of an attack. 1Password’s research has found that a whopping 76% of people who have been phished still reuse passwords across their accounts. Meanwhile, another recent survey found that 48% of Gen Z admit to using the names of family members…