Are you terrible at remembering passwords? Are you so terrible, in fact, that you often use the same one for multiple websites? If so, you’re not alone. A survey by mobile identity company TeleSign found that nearly 75 percent of consumers use duplicate passwords—and many of them haven’t changed those passwords in five years or more. This practice, along with using passwords that are too basic or easily hackable (such as 123456, password or a birthdate), leaves them vulnerable to password theft and misuse.
Fortunately, Dashlane has developed an easy, elegant solution. CreditLand recently spoke with Chuck Kimble, the software company’s VP for Partnerships and New Business, about the inspiration behind its Password Manager and Digital Wallet products and how you can put them to work for you.
Protecting 7 Million Consumers While Saving Them Time
Founded in 2011 by former Business Objects CEO Bernard Liautaud and three exceptionally talented engineers — Jean Guillou, Guillaume Maron and Alexis Fogel — Dashlane was inspired by the desire to address the challenges of managing online identity.
“Managing your identity online is really complicated,” Kimble explained. “So is online shopping. I think Bernard saw an opportunity to remove that friction and at the same time help people enhance their security as they navigate the Internet.”
With 7 million customers to date—and a plan to double that number in 2017—Kimble estimates that Dashlane saves each one an estimated 50 hours per year by storing their passwords, logging them into frequently used websites automatically, and reducing any online checkout process to one or two clicks.
Safe, Convenient Password Generation and Storage
According to Kimble, most consumers are first drawn to Dashlane because they want a safe and convenient way to store their passwords. “Using a password manager is a really good resolution for 2017, and I think Dashlane is by far the easiest one to use,” he said. “We took something super-complicated and made it as simple as possible.”
Getting started is as straightforward as downloading the free software from the Dashlane website (it works on PCs and Macs) and/or installing the mobile app from Google Play or iTunes. From there, you can import your passwords or save them as you browse the Web. Dashlane’s Password Manager will store your saved passwords securely and autofill them when you next visit the corresponding website.
You’ll also receive instant security alerts—to your computer or phone—when a website you use reports a breach. You can then use the built-in Password Changer to replace the effected password in mere seconds.
“We’ll generate really strong passwords for you that are hard to hack,” Kimble added, “as well as provide you with a security score for each password you enter. Then you can use our Password Generator to create new passwords to replace the weak ones instantly.”
Making Online Checkout a Breeze
Dashlane’s benefits don’t stop at free password management, however. “Digital Wallet is an integral part of our Password Manager,” Kimble said. “It will store all of your frequently used information, everything from your email and address to your credit and debit cards. About 70 percent of our customers start to use our Digital Wallet functionality within three months of installing our software. Once they try it, they keep using it almost exclusively for shopping online. In fact, our customers spend about $6,000 on average per year through the Dashlane Digital Wallet. So far, we’ve enabled over $80 billion in online spend.”
According to Kimble, this feature is as simple and easy to use as the Password Manager. Whenever you enter the checkout process on an online shopping website, “A virtual wallet will open and you’ll have a choice of the cards you’ve stored with us,” he explained. “It will then autofill the necessary information as well as generate a receipt so you can refer back later if you need to return an item or just keep track of your spending.”
The Digital Wallet works on any online shopping website and can also store bank and PayPal information. “We have zero merchant relationships,” Kimble continued. “Instead, we have a product that looks at every site in context and autofills all the data you frequently use. It makes for really easy shopping anywhere online with just one or two clicks.”
Peace of mind is a given, as Dashlane uses AES-256 encryption, a private master password, and an auto-lock to protect both your passwords and wallet data. To learn more, visit www.dashlane.com.
