Reasons Businesses Switching to Enterprise Password Management – Businesses everywhere are coming to terms with the fact that their password management is outdated, sub-par, or non-existent; and this is a serious problem. Businesses usually handle several to hundreds of passwords, and not protecting them is like asking a hacker to come in and steal company data.
Using an enterprise password management solution can help safeguard passwords and business data against a myriad of threats. Let’s take a closer look at just how important it is to utilize these services in 2021.
Table of Contents
1. Too Many Passwords to Manage
At the enterprise level, a business is likely dealing with a minimum of dozens of employee/company passwords. Some businesses handle thousands, making the need for a good password manager very real. Imagine storing hundreds of company passwords in a Word document. All it takes is one mistake, and the entire company is now at risk. Using spreadsheets, Word docs, and other unsecured documents can put everyone at risk.
Enterprise password managers provide a flexible, affordable solution. Not only can you store passwords, but you can also organize them in sub folders however you want. You can organize by department, manager, etc. Not to mention, you can store other things like sensitive documents in your encrypted password management service.
2. Data Breaches
Data breaches have become too common of an occurrence, and are a real threat to businesses, governments, and private citizens. Just this week it was announced that Facebook has suffered another data breach. This breach was huge in scale, exposing about 533 million records across the world.
The problem with data breaches is that they’re all too often related to compromised passwords. Given that a large percentage of company and personal data is stolen via compromised passwords, it’s safe to say that passwords should be a top priority at the enterprise level.
Using a password manager helps you create and store unique passwords for every account, and some will even notify you when you’re using a duplicate. Some password managers even have automatic password changing capabilities which will change your password every few months.
The cost of a company data breach can easily reach above the $100,000 range, and sometimes over a million dollars between cybersecurity improvements, repairs, and damages and customer settlements. Protect your business against a data breach by securing your passwords with an enterprise password manager.
3. Employee Password Sharing
According to a poll, about 61% of people thought that sharing workplace passwords was more secure than personal passwords. It’s not. In fact, sharing work passwords can be more dangerous, because you’re potentially putting more than just yourself at risk. If the entire company becomes compromised, you could become the victim of a widespread attack that can jeopardize the company’s integrity or bankrupt it entirely.
Using a password manager means you’ll have a secure platform to store company passwords on. And, when certain accounts require password sharing, you’re not using an email service or other messaging board to send company passwords.
4. Password Recycling
Password recycling is a huge problem, and it’s estimated that over half of all internet users recycle passwords across multiple accounts. The great thing about password managers is that they can be used to prevent password recycling with one crucial feature: the password generator.
With the click of a button, employees can create a unique, secure password and secure their account. In most cases, the service will allow for customized passwords (you can set the length, combination of characters, and more). With autofill, there’s no need to memorize passwords, either. This removes the need to use things like names, addresses, or other information for convenience.
5. Affordability
Password managers are more affordable at the enterprise level than ever before, but it’s arguable that there’s no price on security and peace of mind. Most password managers cost just a few dollars per month, and can potentially save a business hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That’s not to say that a password manager will prevent all breaches, but it certainly helps. When passwords are stored and shared safely and securely and aren’t being recycled, you’re increasing your company’s security tenfold.
6. Remote Work
With the increase in remote work due to COVID-19, companies are scrambling to find ways to securely facilitate the work-from-home model. One of the best tools to help with this process is…you guessed it! A password manager. Password managers help team members across the world use company passwords without putting the entire network at risk. If you’re using a remote work model, you need a password manager!