Password Security Management Best Practices

One of the easiest ways for hackers to get into an organization’s sensitive data is by simply guessing someone’s password. Sure, this might be oversimplifying it, but most data breaches are the result of a compromised password. That’s why it’s important to have good password management practices to ensure that your passwords are secure. Nowadays, many workplaces use several programs and software, meaning every staff member has several passwords. This environment is ripe for abuse, but following these password security management best practices will help protect your data.

Password Security Management Best Practices

Make Sure They Are Strong Enough: Password Security Practices

Do you know how many people in your organization are using their first pet’s name and 123 as their password? It might be more than you think if you aren’t tracking it. If your staff are not well on security threats, then they may think that some obscure information from their childhood will make a strong enough password. However, hackers are resourceful, and those simple words will not cut it.

If your staff is choosing their own passwords, they should at the very least have upper and lower case letters, at least one number, and at least one special character. For extra security, the number and special character should appear anywhere but at the end, since that’s the most common spot.

However, that is the bare minimum. Even better would be to have a random password generated by a password management software. That way there’s no easy way for anyone to guess it, and it’s not something that a staff member could easily slip up and let out.

Different Passwords for Everything

Remember your staff member’s childhood pet? Not only is it often a password, but it is also for everything they access. Whether it is emails, your CRM, or staff files, they are using the same password and possibly substituting in different numbers for each one. This means that if their password were to compromise, then everything could be susceptible to a breach.

There should be a different password for everything that they use. This includes native software and software services that they might access. If there is a breach with a cloud software service, then you do not want the hackers to be able to access everything else you have.