Families That Play Together, Stay Safe Online Together

If you do pretty much anything on the Internet, you’ve likely got a whole bunch of passwords to manage, including those you use to access your bank, retirement fund, healthcare providers, online retailers, and even your company’s network. I counted how many passwords I need to manage (147 in my personal account alone) and was surprised by the number. I knew I had a lot, but that's more than this brain can handle. The more accounts you have, the more passwords you need to manage (and we know better than to reuse them.) Some online accounts require changing passwords every three or six months. On top of this, you might have family members with whom you’d like to share some passwords, and be able to manage the process. This adds yet another layer of complexity, from sharing updated passwords to unexpected lockouts, and ultimately takes more time even though you’re just looking for easy, quick sharing.

What You Share, and What You Don’t

Sharing passwords – simply and securely – doesn’t have to be a hassle though. If you and your significant other have a joint bank account and one or more shared credit cards, you’ll both want to be able to same accounts, using the same password. Yet between you and your family, there’s a lot online you all need to access either with frequency or even in the rare case of an emergency. Being able to manage all of your passwords becomes even more important when it comes to keeping personal identities and financial data safe and sound. Let’s take your kids, for example. Today’s children have only known a world with Internet and touch devices, which makes them voracious Internet consumers. Here’s just a sample of the types of online accounts that you own, but your children frequently access:

• Online app stores: Free apps, paid apps, and the ever easy to buy in-app purchases that have gotten more than a few children in hot water after an unintentional buying spree.
• Gaming portals: Everyone wants their own Wii or Xbox login to access their unique gamer profiles, even Dad. Gaming consoles also serve as content centers, with the ability to download apps like Hulu and YouTube.
• Cable TV: Parental controls are useful, but when it comes to content subscriptions like HBO Go, you may want to hold passwords close. Access to HBO Families, sure, Game of Thrones, absolutely not.
• Wi-Fi: Everyone in the house old enough to reach a keyboard, and folks who come to visit, need to use your Wi-Fi. And you probably don’t want to offer free Internet access to your neighbors, so you need a password that’s accessible as well as secure.
• School portals: Your child may need to download a homework assignment while you might need to sign her up for extracurricular activities.
• Netflix, Hulu and the rest: Accounts with these content providers and their ever-expanding roster of original content are among the most popular to share. Even with friends and family who live elsewhere. (They’re still family, right?)
• Tablets and laptops: Families who share the same device often have separate accounts, while you’d likely want to be able to monitor what your child sees and does online.

Beyond your immediately family, think about your parents and in-laws. It’s likely that you have access to some of their accounts, whether it’s for technical support or a ‘just in case’ scenario. This introduces another group of accounts and people you share with, but don’t necessarily need access to everything your significant other or children have access to.

Manage Your Family’s Passwords with LastPass

With LastPass Families, you get an effective and safe way to manage all the passwords for your family. The family member who owns the account (Mom or Dad, most likely) holds administrative control, and can share and revoke access with other members. This comes in very handy when your child has gotten into a bit of mischief and loses gaming privileges for a week. Each family member gets their own vault to store all of their personal sites and items privately, but the good stuff comes with the shared folders. Once a family manager creates a shared folder, they can invite others who have edit or read only access to the sites in the folder. There’s no limit to how many folders you can create which means you can customize your Families subscription in a way that makes sense for you. In addition, you can even designate additional managers, and provide emergency access so that designated members of the family have access to the stored information during unexpected situations. It’ll take just minutes to get everything up and running, and in return, you can say goodbye to sharing passwords via text or notes (not a good idea anyway!). LastPass Families is just around the corner so soon you’ll be able to see for yourself how easy it is to keep everyone at home safe and secure online.