Simply put, password policies are insufficient to protect a firm.
We provided you with 68,680,741 reasons in an earlier post why you should use a best password manager for business to increase the security of your organization. The benefits of using a password manager have far surpassed the 68 million mark to over a billion as cybersecurity concerns and attacks continue to rise. To be exact, there are 3.2 billion reasons.
In what is being referred to as the greatest breach of all time and the mother of all breaches, COMB, aka the Compilation of Many Breaches, 3.2 billion unique pairs of cleartext emails and passwords were exposed.
One of the most prominent examples to date, this enormous breach is notable just for its size. The breach of more than 500,000 Zoom accounts, which were offered for sale in dark web hacker forums, is one recent example that many people may relate to.
Each compromised account, according to Cyble, the cybersecurity company that found the compromised accounts, contained the username, password, registered email address, host key, and personal meeting URL.
The Zoom incident is particularly relevant because many employees utilise the service because COVID-19 requires them to work from home. More than half (57%) of Americans who work from home report using new or technologically more advanced products and services, according to a recent Dashlane survey. These consist of password managers, VPNs, anti-malware software, and videoconferencing solutions.
Risks are increased because many workers who work from home (51%) use their own equipment and devices to access corporate networks. However, only 45% use multifactor authentication when they use their mobile devices to access corporate networks and apps. Similar to this, only 45% of organizations claim to have taken measures to safeguard the data kept on employees’ phones and other devices.
How even the Best Workers can Pose the Greatest Hazards
Most workers don’t purposely provide credentials that could endanger their employer’s reputation. By unintentionally divulging login information, using weak passwords, or clicking phishing baits, they do so.
Weak passwords can be explained, in part, by password saturation. Employees frequently need to remember dozens of passwords. They frequently favor passwords like 123456, qwerty, and even password in order to make the process simpler.
You’d assume that using these kinds of credentials would be prohibited by rigorous password regulations. The issue is that regulations are frequently not strictly regulated or applied. Consider the fact that, despite the fact that 67% of businesses have a password policy for staff members, just 34% believe they strictly enforce it. In fact, according to 59% of businesses, human memory is the best method for keeping track of passwords, followed by sticky notes at 42%.
Employees frequently use these poor passwords across numerous accounts, both personal and professional, which just makes the situation worse. Users reuse passwords across an average of 16 business accounts at work. Additionally, they use insecure channels like Slack and email to communicate passwords with team members at work.
Another common faux pas is people sticking sticky notes with passwords on them to their laptops or monitors. Ask Lisa Kudrow whether that isn’t riskier than you think. The Friends actress shared a picture of her computer monitor on Instagram, showing a sticky note with her password written on it.
Why your Password Policies by themselves are Failing
Employee password changes must be frequent, according to a fundamental principle of password management. Periodic password updates are used by about two-thirds (67%) of businesses to increase security. However, forcing employees to modify passwords for dozens of accounts may cause them to rebel.
In fact, frequently changing passwords may encourage staff to generate weaker passwords or make modest changes to existing ones. You can be doing more harm than good if you are extremely rigorous about password changes or demand them too regularly. The answer? a company password manager with SSO that offers unmatched security and insight without frequently requiring password changes from employees.
How Password Managers can Safeguard your Company
When it comes to effective cybersecurity, you now have more factors to take into account than ever before, such as password overload and the growing risks of work-from-home programmes. Your business can decrease risk and improve operational efficiency with the aid of a password manager.
Teams that utilise password managers can assist users create strong, secure passwords by employing a password manager that syncs between several desktop and mobile devices. To prevent employees from leaking or taking confidential company information and intellectual property with them when they depart, password managers often separate personal and professional credentials. By calculating a security score based on factors like the frequency with which passwords are reused across personal and commercial accounts, the best password managers also assist IT in monitoring and evaluating security performance.
Password managers relieve employees of the burden of needing to remember (or record) a large number of passwords. They also make it possible for colleagues to safely share passwords while lowering the risk of a data leak.
All staff members, even those who work remotely, may access your network and share data with ease and security thanks to a company password manager. System administrators have more control over passwords thanks to password managers as well. You will have more freedom as the administrator to grant and deny access to staff members wherever they may be.
A password manager will also enable you to quickly access the dark web safely on android and mobile. Choosing a password manager for your company will help you avoid expensive breaches and downtime while ensuring that your devoted workers don’t unintentionally put your company at risk.
