What Is a Password Manager and Should I Use One?
Key takeaways
- Password reuse, not weak passwords, is what turns one leak into several compromised accounts, which is why unique passwords matter more than long ones.
- A shared business vault with per-user access control and a documented offboarding process beats personal vaults, because personal vaults leave the company with the person.
- Enable breach scanning so the vault tells you which stored credentials turned up in a public leak, instead of waiting for the account to be abused.
- The master password and the recovery kit are the whole security of a vault, so store them offline and rehearse the restore, not just the setup.
- Do not put the master password in the same vault it protects, and do not put it on a shared drive, because that recreates the reuse problem with more steps.
As of 24 October 2026: the service descriptions, prices and turnaround figures on this page are current.
What does a password manager actually do for an Indian business?
It does four jobs. It generates a unique random password for every account, so a leaked credential on one site cannot be replayed on another. It stores those passwords in one encrypted vault, so nothing ends up in a spreadsheet or a chat message. It shares credentials safely with colleagues through per-user permissions and shared folders, which removes the shared-password spreadsheet that most small firms still have. And it monitors the credentials it holds against public breach data. For a company, the vault is only useful with multi-factor authentication and a strict onboarding and offboarding process, because a vault that never removes leavers is just a tidy password list with better marketing.
Is a password manager safe, and where should the master password live?
A properly implemented manager is safer than what it replaces, because the alternative is a human choosing passwords from patterns. The security rests on two things: a strong master passphrase that never leaves your head, and a correctly configured recovery setup. Keep an encrypted offline copy of the recovery kit in a bank locker or a sealed envelope at a trusted location, and rehearse the restore once a quarter, because an unrehearsed recovery kit is not a recovery plan. Turn off the browser's built-in password sync unless the vault is enterprise-managed and centrally controlled, since browser sync turns a local compromise into a synced compromise.
How do you roll it out without people abandoning it?
Roll it out in three steps. First, deploy a company-wide managed client on every laptop, with single sign-on through your identity provider so people never type a master password. Second, migrate the shared credentials, because the shared spreadsheet of accounts is where the real exposure sits, and move them into shared folders with named owners. Third, switch on breach scanning and a report queue, and give IT a weekly list of new or reused passwords to fix. If you block every saved password on day one, people will keep passwords in notes apps and browsers, which is worse than what you replaced. Announce it as a convenience: they stop typing passwords and stop getting locked out of shared systems.
What should an auditor be able to see?
An auditor should see a password policy that matches how the business actually works, and a vault configuration that enforces it. That means central policy, not per-user settings, a documented credential sharing model, MFA on the vault itself, and evidence that leaver access is removed on the day of exit. You should also be able to show the breach scanning report and a sample of the shared credential reviews, because those are what prove the programme is live. For Indian compliance work, the vault fits into the CERT-In Information Security Management System requirement as part of access control, and into the DPDP Act 2023 obligations around protecting personal data in your systems.
| Area | Shared spreadsheet today | Managed vault | Who benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Password reuse | One password across email, banking and portal logins | Unique generated password per account | Whole company |
| Sharing access | Password pasted into a chat message | Shared folder with named owners and permissions | Finance and IT teams |
| Leaver access | Credentials often survive the exit | Access removed on the day of exit | Company and customers |
| Breach awareness | Nobody finds out until abuse | Breach scanning flags exposed credentials | IT team |
| Audit evidence | No record of what was shared | Access logs and credential reviews | Auditors and CERT-In audit |
What are the frequently asked questions?
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