Can we talk about password managers vs. writing passwords down?

I was at a coffee shop in Austin last month and overheard this older guy telling his friend he keeps all his passwords on a sticky note under his keyboard. His friend laughed and said that's just asking for trouble, but the guy argued he's never been hacked in 20 years. On the flip side, I've got a buddy who uses a password manager and still got phished because he clicked a fake login page. It got me thinking, is a physical list really that bad if you keep it in a locked drawer? Or is the convenience of a digital manager worth the risk of a data breach? I've seen both sides work and fail, so I'm curious what people here actually do for their personal accounts. Has anyone else had a weird conversation like that where someone defended an old school method?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant.parker23d ago

Honest opinion? Physical list in a locked drawer beats any password manager if you're not careless with it. The real problem isn't the method it's people reusing passwords or falling for phishing scams. A sticky note under the keyboard is dumb, but a notebook locked up at home is surprisingly solid. Most password managers work fine until their company gets breached or you install a shady update. I'd rather trust a piece of paper I control than a cloud server I can't touch. Keep it simple and safe.

dakota_king8023d ago

Flip it around and ask yourself how many people actually lock up their password notebook the right way. Most folks keep it in a desk drawer or next to their computer where anyone can grab it during a break in. A password manager with a strong master password and two factor auth is way harder to crack than a physical list sitting in someones home office.