We’ve talked about the importance of password managers in the past. In fact, we even gave you nine reasons why you should use one. Some of the highlights include:
- Choose password managers over saving your passwords via your web browser.
- These tools allow you to share passwords (say with colleagues or family) without divulging the passwords.
- And of course – our favourite – they allow passwords to sync across all devices.
So, in a nutshell, they’re super important and should be part of your security planning.
Protecting your reputation
When the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme came into effect in February 2018, the onus on businesses to ensure their data (and that of their customers) stays safe, increased dramatically. Not only are fines something you’ll want to be avoiding (businesses with turnover of more than $3m can be up for $1.7m in fines, and that’s before paying damages to the customers that were impacted), the reputational damage could be difficult to overcome and can affect organisations for a long time.
Password protection is one of the most important factors in ensuring your company data doesn’t end up in the hands of the wrong person.
What is a password management tool?
A password manager encrypts all passwords within a database with a key from the user’s master password. To access the passwords, the user must type in the master password, loading the key and unlocking the vault.
Risks vs benefits
With all good things come some bad, and despite the fact that password managers improve processes and increase security, there are some associated challenges:
- Forgetting your master password: this one is obvious, but important to keep in mind. If you forget this password, you won’t have access to any others, which could mean you’re without access to any of your applications. Make sure to securely backup your master passwords – always have a disaster recovery plan!
- You’re still not immune to attack: insider breaches can still occur, as can dictionary attacks, phishing emails and keylogging.
- Single point of failure: if your master password is compromised, it allows access to everything else. Keeping your master password safe must be a priority.
That’s not to say that it’s not worth using a password manager but it’s important to be aware of the challenges too. Like any security tool, there are always trade-offs.
LastPass data centre hits Australia
Password management system, LastPass believes in the power of its offering so much that it has opened a data centre in Australia to better service the APAC region. Their customers now have the ability to store their encrypted vault data within the region which helps when complying with GDPR and other legislation, something that should make IT bosses very happy.
How do I keep my passwords (and business) safe?
Luckily for you, we offer comprehensive cyber security services. And while that means assessing your business for all things security-related, passwords are a great place to start. Talk to us about performing a password audit today and we’ll let you know how you’re currently positioned and what you can do to improve your password security.
Having a password manager is a vital tool for businesses in today's times but having the expertise of an overarching team of cyber security experts will mean you can concentrate on doing what you do best – running your business.
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