Rather than locking sensitive information inside a physical filing cabinet, today’s files are digital and are secured behind access forms using password to unlock them. Often the only thing standing between a hacker and your customer database or accounting files is the password being used by a staff member.
Unfortunately, no matter how good your network security is, if the passwords securing your data aren’t strong, then your information is at risk.
Weak or stolen passwords are responsible for 81% of data breaches, making them a big security concern for any company.
What are the biggest mistakes being made with passwords?
51% of people reuse passwords across business and personal accounts.
People adopt these bad password habits because they have to use so many passwords in the course of a day or week. Typically, no one could possibly remember unique passwords for every login they use, let alone ones that use a combination of letters, numbers, symbols and upper and lower-case letters.
This is the dilemma that password managers were designed to solve. These “password vaults” help users adopt strong passwords that are unique for every login. Users only have to remember their master login to the password management app to access all the others.
Using a password management app can greatly increase your company’s cybersecurity by helping users create strong and unique passwords for every login and enforcing other security best practices.
There are several good brands on the market. Here at Haxxess, we like 1Password. A few other top password managers are Dashlane, LastPass, and KeePass
Here are some important advantages of using a password management app at your company.
According to a global data breach study, Canada has the highest direct cost per each breached record, at $107.31 CAD per compromised file. By securing your passwords, you’re addressing the largest cause of data breaches, significantly increasing your company’s data security.
Password managers generate passwords for user logins that are designed to be strong and difficult to hack. Because users only need to remember a single password to access all the others, it’s much easier for that single password to be a complex one.
Password managers give you the ability to set up security protocols across your organization. For example, you can designate the required length and complexity that your employees use for their master password that accesses their password vault.
You can also require use of two-factor authentication for even stronger password security and ensure they’re keeping their password manager app updated to the latest version.
You won’t have to worry about being locked out of an application if you’re accessing a work program from your laptop at home instead of your office desktop. Password managers offer the ability to sync your preferred devices, so you can have access to all your logins no matter where you are.
A password manager is going to make it easier for your staff to login to their work applications, so there will be less “lost my password” cycles to go through that slow down productivity.
A password manager is especially helpful for those websites that are only accessed occasionally, which makes it easier to forget a password and get stuck going through a password reset process.
Many password managers also allow you to save your credit card information in the app, so it will securely autofill into a checkout form. This reduces the need to give credit card numbers to staff over the phone or write them down, which could put the number at risk of being stolen.
It’s also an efficient way for your accounting or purchasing department to control corporate credit cards and reduce administrative time.
If you don’t have a system in place to monitor access to your company applications, trying to produce an audit trail in case of a data breach can be a nightmare.
Password management apps keep track of all your login activity, creating audit trails and providing you with usage reports and analytics.
Have you ever had an employee leave unexpectedly and then had to scramble to find their logins for various sites and services? With a password manager, you can have an administrator that has the ability to access other staff logins. This ensures you’ll never be locked out of a system if one of your employees is out sick or leaves the company unexpectedly.
Whether you’re worried about password security or the strength of your firewall, Haxxess Enterprise Corporation can provide a full IT security analysis and alert you to vulnerabilities and their solutions.
Contact us today to get a free security assessment. Just call us at 705-222-TECH (8324) or reach out online.