Six Lines

Simple Introduction to 1Password

Posted by Aaron Massey on 14 Mar 2014.

Many technologists dread the day when their non-tech-savvy friends come to them asking for help regarding their computer. I can understand why. I’ve been asked to do this many times. Often, whoever is asking just wants me to treat a symptom of a much larger, more challenging problem. That flaky program turns out to be a result of bad habits and unsafe practices which won’t be solved easily.

For me, the most painful part is learning how horrible the average Internet user’s password practices are. I know there are countless academic studies about this. I’ve read more than my share of them, but they are all basically useless when confronted with a random Internet user who just wants their stuff to work.

1Password is the only thing that I’ve found remotely successful in improving password practices for the average person. It works because it actually improves security while maintaining or improving ease of use. It’s on every platform¹ and it uses a public format, so there’s no lock-in. Some people don’t believe me when I recommend it. They have suffered too long, and it’s hard to evaluate security products like this if you don’t already know something about the problem. I think Adam Lisagor of Sandwich Video just solved this for me. If you don’t get it after watching this video, you just won’t get it.