When you start working with a VA, whether it’s for the first time or not, you probably have lots of questions. And one of the first questions is usually, how do I safely share passwords with my VA?
Passwords, by their very nature, are sensitive (polite reminder: don’t use the same password for everything like my nan does!) and we totally understand you not wanting to send your username and password to us in an email. Especially as those details usually grant access to further important information – you don’t want the information accidentally landing in someone else’s hands!
So, how do you safely share your passwords with your VA or wider team?
Password sharing tools
Luckily for us, there are lots of password-sharing tools out there including LastPass, DashLane, 1Password, and more!
With these tools, you can share your login details for various websites, without your VA even being able to see the password.
You add your username and password for different websites you use to the toll and then from there, share with whoever you want/need to! Most tools give you the option to keep the password hidden.
Your VA then uses the same tool to auto-complete the username and password fields when you log in to a website (usually via some sort of browser extension.
My absolute favourite password-sharing tool is LastPass.
Why I use (and love) LastPass
LastPass is a password manager which means it stores and manages your passwords for you – no more trying to remember all of your passwords or jotting them down on scraps of paper that get lost on your desk.
It will also generate random passwords for you (if you want it to) each time you create a new account somewhere or if you update your password. They will be impossible to guess but that’s totally okay because you won’t need to remember them, they’ll be safely stored for you and ready to use whenever you need them.
I use the pro version which is only $35 per year and this allows me to use it on multiple devices – perfect for when I’m at my desktop, working in a café with my laptop or, you know, just wanting to watch Netflix in bed on my iPad (because you can literally save ALL of your logins on there, not just business-related ones).
Using LastPass with your team
LastPass isn’t just for keeping you organised, it’s perfect for sharing passwords with your team members in just a couple of clicks – you can “share” your password without your team members ever actually seeing or having access to your password.
Your team members will need to create a LastPass account for themselves in order to allow LastPass to autofill the login details when they go to log into a website as you, but it’s totally free (there is a pro plan if you need additional features) and takes just a few minutes to create an account.
Inside your LastPass account, you can control who has access to each of your passwords and even arrange them in folders, giving your team access to a particular folder of passwords.
Another great feature of LastPass is that it’s really easy to revoke access to passwords too. This means that you don’t have to reset your password each time you stop working with someone.
LastPass is one of those tools that I didn’t use for the longest of times but now I could not imagine my life without it – it’s been a total gamechanger and I know my clients feel the same way about it too.
If you don’t use it yet, click here to get started with LastPass today.