Securely Accessing your Passwords in an Internet Cafe

On a recent trip, I had a sudden emergency need to access a critical system back home, but I didn’t have any computing technology with me.  I found an Internet cafe on a backstreet, where no one spoke English, but was able to rent a computer for a 1/2 hour by flashing some Euros.  Once I sat down at the machine, I was immediately struck by the realization that this computer was most likely infected with spyware that would be monitoring my every key stroke, and would probably record my usernames and passwords that I was using to log into my different systems.
Thankfully, I use LastPass to store and manage all my passwords and security information, and they have a virtual keyboard that you can use to log into their system.  By using a virtual keyboard, no spyware or malware can track your key presses and thus record your information.

Using a service like LastPass also gives you other advantages, such as the ability to only remember ONE password (the LastPass password) and have LastPass remember all your other passwords, allowing them to be extremely secure passwords.  One of the biggest dangers of passwords is the draw of using the same password over and over – it’s important to use a different password for every different service, and LastPass will help you with that.
If you find yourself in an Internet Cafe anywhere in the world, it’s best to assume that someone is monitoring the very keys that you are pressing.  Using a tool like the LastPass virtual keyboard will help keep you safe!