One of the attack types that’s been gaining steam during the drive to adopt cloud technologies is credential theft.
With more data being stored online than ever before, the quickest way to gain access is through a legitimate user account. 70% of surveyed organizations state they’ve experienced a cloud security breach within the past 12 months.
Passwords have become a big target for cybercriminals for a few reasons:
- They allow hackers to bypass typical network security
- Most of a company’s data is now online and can be accessed with the right user login
- It’s often easier to hack weak passwords than to breach an account by other methods
Password security is one of the most important ways for Chicago area businesses to stay safe in the cloud. But unfortunately, using strong and unique passwords for every account is easier said than done in most companies.
There are typically two opposing forces. One is the need for users to have strong passwords for every login and not to reuse them. The other is the fact that no human being can typically remember all those strong, unique passwords for multiple logins.
So, employees fall into bad password habits by default:
- Using weak passwords
- Reusing the same password over multiple accounts
- Using insecure ways to keep track of passwords
42% of organizations rely on sticky notes to keep track of passwords.
If you’re like most companies, you need a better way to manage passwords. You need a password manager.
What is a Password Manager Application?
A password manager application acts as a password vault for all user passwords. Then users only need one password to access all of them. One strong and unique password is much easier to remember than 70.
The average person now has approximately 70-80 different passwords between personal and work.
Businesses can get a business password manager account, which allows them to add employees and have one central system where all passwords for their company are managed.
Password managers use encryption to securely store passwords and encryption keys are local, meaning the application vendor does not have access to any passwords stored in the system.
Ways that a Password Manager Benefits Your Business
Suggests Strong Unique Passwords
Employees can use the password manager to set strong and unique passwords for all logins. Because they no longer have to remember them all, these passwords can be a string of hard to crack characters, numbers, and symbols.
Just click a button, and the password management application will auto-fill a difficult password in an account.
You Only Have to Remember One Master Password
Password managers solve the conflict between needing to set strong passwords and needing to remember them all. It does the remembering for the user, and keeps passwords stored securely.
Users only need to remember a single strong password to gain access to all the others.
Access Passwords in Multiple Ways
Password managers are meant to be quick and easy to use. You can access them via desktop app, mobile app, or via a browser plugin.
Password manager accounts can also sync across different devices, so no matter which device you’re on, you can access your logins.
Using the browser plugin allows you to auto-fill username/passwords into online login forms. You can also copy/paste login credentials from the password manager app.
Keeps Companies from Getting Locked Out of Accounts
Have you ever had an employee leave unexpectedly and have to scramble to try to find their login to a company account? When company passwords aren’t managed centrally, this type of problem can happen because no one else has access to an important login.
With a business password manager account, you can designate an administrator that has the ability to access employee passwords for business logins. This ensures you’re never locked out of an important account.
Offboarding Employees is More Secure
When you offboard employees that are leaving or retiring from your company, there are most likely multiple account logins that you need to have passwords changed for to ensure security.
This process is much easier if you’re using a password manager, because you can change the main password manager account password, which locks the employee out of all their business logins.
Keeps Your Company Passwords More Secure
When you use a password manager for employee logins, you solve several of the bad habits that employees adopt.
Passwords can be made to be more secure and more difficult to hack. Employees no longer need to use unsecure methods like sticky notes or spreadsheets for saving their passwords.
You can also enable multi-factor authentication with the password manager to further secure all your accounts.
Get Smart IT Security Solutions for Your Chicago Business!
ProdigyTeks helps companies with smart and cost-efficient solutions that solve common issues and keep their network and cloud accounts secure.
Schedule a free phone consultation today! Call 312-600-8357 or reach us online.
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