Did you know there are an estimated 300 billion passwords in use today? Within each organization, a single employee can have access to dozens of passwords for various accounts. As a result, the chances of passwords being hacked or stolen have increased dramatically.
Protecting your passwords is essential as it is believed that 81% of data breaches are due to poor password security. The simple fact is that passwords aren’t kept as safe as they can be. So, how do you change this in your business?
LastPass
LastPass is a password management platform that can be used to protect all of your passwords. It can be downloaded as a browser extension, meaning you can access it whenever you log into different accounts.
The idea is that a complex master password is used by creating a memorable phrase. From here, all of your other passwords are stored in LastPass, meaning you never forget them again. It lets you use more complicated passwords for everything else, seeing as you will never forget them.
Different Passwords
The key to password protection is using a selection of different passwords, rather than the same one. Using one password for everything is easy to remember, but it means a hacker only needs to guess one password to access everything.
Adding some diversity and using special characters and numbers will make passwords harder to crack.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
2FA is where you add an additional layer of security on top of your passwords.
Instead of requiring a password to access an account, you also need something else. This could be a unique pin code that’s generated every time you sign in and send to your smartphone – banks use this a lot.
Or, it can be a biometric scan, an answer to a question, etc. The whole idea is that people have to go through two stages before gaining access to an account. If a password gets stolen or hacked, the culprit still needs to get through the second barrier.
Keep Passwords Hidden
Never share passwords with people, even if they work with you. The fewer people that know a password, the more secure it will be. If 100 people know a password, all it takes is for one of them to write it down somewhere, and it can be stolen.
Alongside this, it’s a smart idea to change your passwords now and then, which helps to counter the effects of sharing them. If you have shared a password in the past, changing it every couple of months means that whoever knew it no longer knows it.
Hire an IT Company
Finally, you can keep your passwords safe by hiring an IT company that helps with password protection and security services. An IT company can provide you with a more robust network, meaning the entire system is more secure and safe. It will be harder for hackers to gain access to the network to see passwords on the system, reducing the chances of cyberattacks.
Password protection must be a top priority as weak or unprotected passwords can cause data breaches that lead to devastating consequences. Use the advice above to keep your passwords safe.
