Why is password protection important for business?

Why is there so much focus on password protection in a business environment?

Are employees responsible for how they manage credentials, or is it the company that should take responsibility?

In this article, we will discuss the concept of password protection and provide you with strategies for implementing it in your company.

What is password protection?

Password protection in the business environment involves setting up some guidelines and (or) strict rules for creating and managing business passwords.

The rules should apply to all people related to the organization – employees, business partners, freelancers, and clients. That is, to everyone who has access to sensitive company data in computers, online cloud, networks, accounts, and devices.

But why is it so important? Should you bother setting up strict password management policies?

Why is password protection important for businesses?

Passwords play a critical role in data security in businesses. A password serves the door function – they either allow or deny someone from entering the building. The security of this door has a direct impact on whether the right people will be let through.

The same logic applies to enterprise passwords. Weak passwords can accidentally grant access to cybercriminals (whereas strong credentials prevent them from coming).

Statistics suggest that nearly 81 percent of all successful data breaches were caused by weak or stolen credentials. Therefore, protected credentials strengthen the business cybersecurity and immunity against multiple cyber threats.

How do cybercriminals exploit passwords?

In many ways, mismanaged business credentials can lead to cybercrime.

Weak passwords are vulnerable to many data breaches. Therefore, a business can prevent cyber threats only by protecting its passwords.

Here are the top three cyber threats that businesses suffer most often.

1. Credential stuffing

Most cybercriminals do not steal credentials by themselves. All the passwords are already there. For instance, if your email password was leaked before, likely, it was dumped into a dark web forum.

If you changed your password immediately and updated it anywhere else you used it, you have nothing to worry about.

However, if you reused the same password on other accounts, those accounts are now vulnerable to credential-stuffing attacks.

During this attack, hackers use previously leaked usernames (or email addresses) and passwords to break into users’ accounts. That is why reusing the password can lead you to lose many accounts simultaneously.

2. Brute force attack

Weak passwords are also highly vulnerable to brute-force attacks. In this case, cybercriminals try to break into your account by using combinations of the most popular usernames and passwords.

This attack is critically dangerous if employees use such passwords as 123456789 or qwerty(or any other of the most hacked credentials).

This way, the password does not have to be leaked before, so a cybercriminal guesses it.

3. Social engineering attacks

Social engineering attacks, as the name suggests, involve the social (that is, human) aspect.

In these types of attacks (like phishing, pretexting, etc.), humans are the target of cybercriminals. They trick employees into giving away sensitive information (passwords, bank account details, business secrets) by impersonating reputable people or faking login forms.

The most recent Verizon report says that around 82 percent of data breaches have involved the human element (accidental error or social engineering tactics).

Therefore, password protection can never be dissociated from the people managing them.

How can you protect your business passwords?

Luckily, most data breaches can be prevented by strengthening business password protection.

Here are the 7 rules for strengthening password protection in your company:

• Avoid using the most popular passwords like 123456. (Here, you can find the most commonly used passwords.)
• Avoid using very short, word-based credentials. A favorite basketball team is not a good word to use as a work account credential. The same applies to pet names, film titles, or such words as admin, user, or password.
• Never reuse the same password more than once. Create a unique password for every account.
• Do not store passwords in plain text. Excel sheets, Slack chats, and online and physical notebooks are unsafe places.
• Create strong passwords. All your passwords should be long and include lowercase and capital letters, special symbols, and numbers.
• Turn on Two-factor authentication whenever possible. 2FA serves as an additional security layer to protect sensitive accounts.
• Use a business password manager to store all business passwords. It keeps credentials encrypted so that no external people can access or reveal them. Besides, a password vault allows sharing of credentials securely with colleagues and external business partners.

Upgrade your business security by focusing on strengthening password protection. It is the practice that immediately increases the organization’s safety.