Security

Best Practices for Enterprise Level Password Management

Password Management

The threat of cyberattacks and breaches is always looming, but many companies still don’t take password security seriously. This is a major problem. If someone gains access to your account via a brute force attack or a phishing scam, it can lead to disastrous consequences for your company.

In the event of a breach, not only will you have to deal with customers’ concerns and questions about their data, but you will also need to conduct an expensive investigation into how the breach occurred.

The only way to avoid these problems is by implementing enterprise-level password management solutions that protect against potential attacks and breaches. Here are some of the best practices you can implement.

Why should you care about password management?

Secure communication is key to ensuring that your company is safe and secure from hackers. Not only does your company need to implement proper security measures, but it also needs to set and enforce a strong password policy.

The weakest link in your security strategy is your company’s password policy. When users make the same password on all of their accounts, it becomes a game of “pass the baton.” The problem with this game is that it is extremely easy for hackers to sniff out the weakness in your security.

What Is The Solution?

Password managers

Password managers provide a highly secure system for storing and changing passwords. Not only do they save the passwords for all of your company’s accounts, but they also provide the automated means for generating new passwords.

Typically, the password manager will utilize long, complex strings of symbols and characters, and store the passwords in encrypted vaults. The password vault then uses hashing functions and salting schemes to ensure that a stolen password cannot be used again.

While there are a lot of consumer-grade password managers on the market, you should look into a corporate password management tool that will come with additional security features for protecting an enterprise-level entity.

Implementing a strong password policy

The solution to the weak password policy problem is a password management solution. A password management solution can not only increase the security of your company’s accounts, but also prevents users from having to reuse passwords on multiple accounts.

If allowed to create their own passwords, many employees will use dictionary words and calendar dates that are easily cracked by brute force measures.

However, implementing a strong password policy does not simply mean instructing employees to use stronger passwords – many won’t. That’s why you also need to use the strategies below.

Multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication works by asking you to use one or more of a number of devices (smartphones, fingerprint scanners, and tablets) to authenticate your identity. However, for enterprise passwords, you want something a bit beefier than your average smartphone fingerprint. Biometric devices such as advanced fingerprint, retinal, and voice scanners will provide the best protection against password theft and brute force attacks.

It’s best if multiple biometric systems are combined – for example, retinal scanners can sometimes be tricked using photographs, but fingerprints are very difficult to fake.

Additionally, it’s usually necessary for businesses to store all of the biometric information, as well as the encrypted passwords for each employee. This is where your password management solution comes into play because it is best to keep the secrets of your enterprise, secret.

Lock user accounts after two password fails

Because password management software should automatically be filling in password requests, there’s no reason for any human error when it comes to password entry. One fail could be a glitch in the network, though even that shouldn’t be happening, but two fails is definitely suspicious, at which point the user’s account should be locked down until your IT team figures out what happened.

As a rule of thumb, don’t allow any password change requests until you’ve taken the appropriate measures to ensure that password change requests are genuine.

Conclusion

The password management process needs to be automated in a way that doesn’t allow for human error or brute force hacks. Password vaults and authentication methods should be strictly managed so that a hacker can’t use their own smartphone to enter your company’s accounts. Only allow employees to log in using company-approved devices, including biometric devices.

Comments
To Top

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This