Let’s face it, when it comes to interacting with technology the list of things that are really irritating may be long. However, on a percentage basis near the top of any list of things that are amazingly frustration in the digital age has to be password management. After all, who isn’t confounded by the need to change passwords? Thanks to the bad guys this has become a major headache. Not only must we change passwords more often, but our inability to remember them, especially since it is always at times we need to remember them the most, i.e., when buying something or logging into our financial institution accounts or medical records, is a very fast way to raise one’s blood pressure. 

The other interesting thing about password management is about targeting really high-need markets. While you might say it is everyone is a target market, which is correct, think about the fact that the average individual attending an institution of higher learning (aka college or university) has roughly six network connected devices, and many have a lot more. This is well above what the rest of us have although in the developed world while the gap between us and our kids and the people who educated and provide support services to them at school may not be shrinking we are certainly loading up on more devices that are password protected. 

It is precisely that college/university market that Fairfax,VA-based password protection mavens Siber Systems, Inc., makers of RoboForm, the world’s most popular password manager, have announced that the company is offering its popular RoboForm Everywhere, normally priced at $19.95 per year, is now available for download at no charge to anyone with a valid college or university email address.  

For those whore are not aware of the RoboForm Everywhere password solution, it enables users to login to websites automatically on computers and mobile devices. And, as the company likes to boast, it offers automatic syncing and multifactor authentication to strengthen security on any device.

Here is the attraction, at least for somebody like myself who is forgetful and in the moment of changing things typically forgets to write things down, which is why my ID/Password file has been rendered useless this year. RoboForm Everywhere has users only have to remember one Master Password, which is encrypted and only the user knows. The solution handles the rest by automatically remembering and entering user passwords for every registered site. Plus, to address that growing collection of devices, RoboForm Everywhere works across PCs, Macs and virtually all mobile devices.

Thanks to all the hacking this past year consumers have been warned repeatedly, or forced thanks to breaches, to change passwords often and use strong ones that contain upper and lowercase letters as well as numbers and symbols.  We also are instructed, which is why remembering is so hard, to use a different password for each registered site we visit.  And, the icing on the frustration cake is that we need to change and sync those passwords on every device we use to access a site.  

Siber Systems understands our frustration.  As Bill Carey, Siber Systems VP of Marketing notes in the offer to give those attending college or working at one a freebie, “Hacking and data breaches are a growing threat worldwide…We believe that good password management practices should start early and know that it can be a challenge to create multiple strong passwords for use on every site, especially when users access sites on different devices. RoboForm Everywhere makes it easy, and now students, professors and faculty with a valid college or university email address can get RoboForm Everywhere absolutely free.”

The target user segment can now access RoboForm’s ad-free apps and use the password management system across multiple devices – with unlimited syncing across all devices included for free. Plus, they will have what may be equally if not more important in the form of RoboForm Everywhere’s multifactor authentication.  

Given the price at the moment I am looking to see if my old alumni university email address would qualify me, but I can’t remember the password and have a call into their IT department.