By John Palmer
Student at Kapi’olani Community College
University of Hawai’i
Living in today’s high-tech world, it’s almost a silly question. Have you ever forgotten the password to your FaceBook login, eBay log-in, WordPress page or your “other” email account? Of course you have. Everyone has, myself included! But what if there was an app, and all you needed to do was remember one password, and it, in turn, would be the key to getting into every other app, website or even bank account you use? Keeper is an app for saving passwords that is a time-saver and highly useful.
Rarely do I download an app or software that I cannot live without, but Keeper is such an application. Why? Keeper remembers everything so I don’t have to. I have used it for many years to remember (and protect) passwords to my bank account, log-ins to websites, even to pay my electric and phone bills. You can completely eliminate the risk of your cookie data being robbed when using it on your PC or MAC since it stores data like a database, as opposed to a web page, which leaves your information open to bots that comb and steal cookie data, making you, that’s right, say it with me people — vulnerable. In fact, the cross-platform compatibility is so great that it works on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, even your Kindle or Nook.
The browser version works on Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. It also uses world-class encryption technology so you never have to worry about all of your private information being hacked. I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that if you aren’t already using this great app, next to your social media, email, and phone (and notwithstanding Flappy Bird, but that’s another story), you will without a doubt find yourself using this app often.
In our discussion on Keeper, classmates voiced a need for an app like Keeper. Kelsey Hardee, a classmate, observes, “There are so many accounts and passwords to remember these days and I find myself pressing the ‘Forgot Password?’ at least once a month.” Another classmate, Shawn Matsuura, says, “Keeper sounds like a great app to have on my phone so I don’t need to worry about keeping a piece of paper with all my information or forgetting a password and having to go through a new password process.”
The convenience Keeper offers doesn’t stop there. You can access your log-ins and passwords across any platform since it works through a web page, program or app (find it at Google Play and the iStore). It even allows you to log-in directly to the sites you frequent most from the app itself, saving you from having to remember several common URL’s and also saving you the time it takes to type in log-ins and passwords.
In his review, Tabini states, “Overall, Keeper is one of the simplest password managers I’ve ever seen. If you do not use one of these apps today, it represents a great starting point: it takes security seriously, it can be set up in under five minutes, and takes even less time to master.” Another reviewer, Rubenking, gives Keeper a rating of excellent. “Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault 8 combines password management and secure file sharing in one easy-to-use package, and it runs on just about any device you can imagine.”
This just in: Keeper now stays resident in your browser identifying when you need it when revisiting sites that you frequent often and that need you to log-in. Does it get any better than this?
So yeah, it’s my job to pick apart these apps and give you the low-down on their shortcomings. But with Keeper, I got nothing bad for ya! It’s solid, and frankly, because it is such a basic utility, its usefulness is off the charts! You would have to download the app onto any of your devices. However, if you use the web interface, you can take a shortcut by just logging in. In one log-in, access all of your other sites or accounts. Of course, you do have to input all of the info once to get them into the database. But once you have, life then gets really easy!
Keeper Vault rarely bothers you about upgrading to a paid version, which offers to save your data in the cloud. That way if you lose your phone, you can jump back into your secured, encrypted data anywhere at anytime. Keeper development has grown their application to keep up with nearly everyone, now offering paid versions designed for businesses. Keeper is available for free download at https://keepersecurity.com. I recommend it to everybody.
Works Cited
Hardee, Kelsey. “Keeper.” Online posting. 7 Sep. 2014. Laulima Discussion. 22 Sep. 2014.
Matsuura, Shawn. “Keeper.” Online posting. 8 Sep. 2014. Laulima Discussion. 22 Sep. 2014.
Rubenking, Neil J. “Keeper Password Manager and Digital Vault 8.” PCMag, 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.
Tabini, Marco. “Review: Keeper Password Manager Is Powerful and Simple, but Pricey.” Macworld, 11 July 2013. Web. 22 Sep. 2014.
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