Ever wonder what a world with no need for passwords would be like? For starters, businesses would no longer fear password exploitation, the cause of over 80% of breaches in the hacking category. Sysadmins would rest easier with zero password reset requests in their queue. New employees will be productive from day one with instant access to relevant accounts and services. Oh, and most importantly, e-commerce websites would breathe a sigh of relief knowing their customers will no longer abandon their carts because they forgot their password. While this world sounds ideal and stress-free, it’s sadly nowhere close to becoming a reality just yet.
Passwords have widely been accepted as the default authentication method, mainly due to their ease of use and cost-effective implementation. Until an alternative that’s accepted by the wider audience is proposed, passwords will continue to be a part of our daily lives. This led to the inception of World Password Day (celebrated on the first Thursday of every May), which marks the importance of password hygiene and better password management. This World Password Day, we share five simple tips that will help you embrace your passwords and improve their overall safety.
No password is good enough to be reused
If there’s one thing you’d never want to recycle, it’s passwords. Along with weak passwords, password reuse is one of the top contributors to password breaches. Even if you use the strongest password across all your accounts, if an attacker were to gain access to one of the accounts, unlocking the rest would be child’s play.
An easy alternative to remembering multiple passwords would be passphrases. Passphrases are a sequence of random words put together to form a long phrase. They’re easier to remember and long enough to increase the strength of your passwords.
Keep an eye out for compromised passwords
Contrary to popular belief, passwords no longer need to be reset periodically. The NCSC advises people to reset passwords only when they’re compromised in data breaches. Keep an eye on new data breaches and constantly verify if your credentials have been exposed in such attacks. Cybercriminals often try to sneak into accounts using breached passwords, and it’s essential to avoid falling prey to their attacks.
The future is going passwordless
One efficient way to overcome password fatigue could be by implementing passwordless authentication using single sign-on (SSO). This is a prevalent technique already in use. Ever use your Google, Facebook, Twitter, or other credentials to sign up with new apps?
Many popular business websites also support SSO, allowing enterprise admins to set up a one-time configuration that grants instant passwordless access for employees. This eliminates password fatigue at work and also improves employee productivity by multiple folds.
Switch to a password manager
Password managers are an easier, safer alternative to remembering passwords. By switching to a password manager like Zoho Vault, you can secure all your passwords in one repository, generate strong, unique passwords for new signups, safely autofill them across websites and apps, and make password sharing safe with real-time auditing. Users can access all passwords saved in their vault using a single master password.
Vault also details security scores for every password saved, helping individuals and businesses eliminate weak passwords. Businesses can also implement SSO with Zoho Vault–one of the few password managers that offer passwordless SSO for unlimited applications.
Spread the word
Cybersecurity starts with password safety, and it’s important to spread awareness on the importance of using strong passwords. Educate friends and family members of any age about the perils of poor password hygiene. Promote talks about cybersecurity at your workplace and encourage your business to adopt a password manager to streamline password management. This could safeguard your personal and business passwords from being exploited.
For this World Password Day, we’re celebrating by thanking the people who’ve made a difference in our online lives. Click here to send a personalized thank you note to the ones you share your accounts with.
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