World Password Day: How to make your password policy stronger
While the future of the password is often debated it is likely that it will continue to be a mainstay of our digital lives for a while yet as the technology predicted to replace them – such as tokenisation or biometrics – remains in development. As we continue to rely on the password, World Password Day, which is celebrated on the 6th May each year, should act as a reminder of the steps businesses can take to improve their password hygiene in order to remain secure.
We have become more reliant on technology in every aspect of our lives this year, meaning more online accounts and log in details to keep track of. The outcome of this ‘password fatigue’ is often the reuse of passwords across multiple sites, passwords containing easily guessable character sequences – such as ‘123456’, ‘password’ or ‘qwerty’ – or choosing words related to your personal life that can be obtained by malicious actors with some simple online research.
With data remaining the world’s most in-demand commodity, businesses must take a stand when it comes to passwords in order to ensure employee password fatigue doesn’t impact corporate reputation or finances as the result of a breach. Keep reading to find out how:
- Switch to passphrases
- Statistics show that a nine-character password hash can be cracked in as little as 45 minutes by a password cracking rig, while an 18-character password can take 400 million years. This dramatic increase should be reason enough to switch to passphrases rather than passwords.
- Consider additional tools
- Using a Password Manager with multi-factor authentication is another key way to improve the security of your passwords, while single sign-on authentication can reduce password fatigue and ensure the ones employees do have are strong. These tools not only make having secure, unique passwords easier, but MFA will prevent cybercriminals leveraging techniques such as credential stuffing or rainbow tables.
- Educate employees
- It’s almost impossible to control the passwords employees use, especially when it comes to reusing the same passwords for multiple professional and personal accounts. Educating staff is crucial to drive home the importance of good password hygiene.
- Enhance your password policy
- While the future of passwords remains in question, they are currently unavoidable. Therefore, businesses must ensure their password policy is up to scratch. This includes forcing frequent password changes – some suggest once every three months is adequate, some suggest more often – and imposing regulations on length and specific characters.
Get in touch now to learn how DigitalXRAID can help protect your business.
