Why So Many Organisations are Using Password Managers

Published on 25 July 2022

Almost everything now needs an email address and password when navigating the online working world. Each password needs to be long, unique and have capital letters and symbols mixed in. That is a lot to remember just for one password, never mind trying to remember dozens of them. This is where the cyber security safety of password strength becomes its weakness. Everyone does it, we write them down in our notebook, have the same password across multiple accounts, or keep it simple and easy to remember (I bet some of you are using ‘Password1234’ as your go-to password).

It’s tricky for anyone to keep good password hygiene with so many passwords to remember. That’s where a Password Manager comes in.

What is a Password Manager?

A password manager is a safe and secure alternative to coping with password overload. Essentially it is an app on your phone, tablet or computer that safely and securely stores your passwords in one location. To access it you will need to create login credentials, but that should be the only password you will need to remember, all your other passwords will be stored inside the password manager.

Benefits of Using a Password Manager

• Auto-fill
  • Once installed and logged into, a password manager will automatically fill in your login details when you go to a site you have an account with, saving you time.
• Autogenerate
  • Password managers often have a handy tool that will generate a long strong password for you. No need to spend time trying to think of tricky complicated passwords again.
• Across All Platforms
  • You can use your password manager account across all platforms and devices. So, you can easily access your accounts and login credentials from anywhere at any time.
• Encryption
  • Password managers encrypt all your data and passwords keeping them as secure as possible. This is different to a browser password manager which stores your login details directly on your device, meaning if your device is breached, the attacker will have access to all your login details. Therefore, it is advisable to not save your login details with your browser and use a password manager instead.

There are many password managers to choose from and it can get a little confusing. We recommend using LastPass which covers all the bases when choosing a password manager.

LastPass

LastPass is used by over 70,000 businesses and offers additional security features like Multi-Factor Authentication. LastPass understands that businesses want to keep their data safe, but that it needs to be simple for employees to understand. Here are some of the key benefits and features of LastPass:

LastPass Advanced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

This will allow you to secure every access point to your business. From workstations to cloud and legacy apps. Adding MFA provides additional security to your endpoint devices, maximising your security.

Frictionless Employee Experience

Added security shouldn’t be a deterrent for employees or make their work more difficult to get to. This can lead to shadow IT or employees finding insecure workarounds. LastPass gives employees the ability to seamlessly gain access to the sites and tools they need.

Convenient Password Sharing

Having the ability to revoke access to accounts and using generated passwords creates a flexible and secure environment for all collaborating teams. With the addition of having the ability to remove access from departing employees.

Flexible, Granular Controls

LastPass allows you to set granular policies to individual logins to further protect your data. For example, only allowing access to an app from certain locations. It allows you to easily manage access from an individual, group, or organisational level.

Passwordless Access

Passwords pose a risk and can become a source of frustration to employees. Using a password manager like LastPass can remove the burden of remembering several passwords. LastPass takes this a step further, you can enable MFA where possible and create passwordless logins for further added security.

Biometric and Contextual Intelligence

LastPass MFA uses both biometric and contextual intelligence to prove an employee’s identity. The biometric factor could be a fingerprint or face ID. While the contextual side will look at the location of the device and IP address. LastPass does both these things whilst still making the experience for the employee easy and seamless.

Plug-and-play Integrations

LastPass has simplified the on and off boarding for employees with seamless integration with Microsoft, OneLogin and Okta.

Actionable Insights with Dark Web Monitoring

Data Breach concerns will become a thing of the past with Actionable Insights. Actionable Insights constantly monitors employees’ accounts and informs them if anything has been compromised, which will prompt them to take action, keeping their accounts safe.

Security by Design

Designed and built with keeping data secure and private, LastPass encrypts and decrypts your data at a device level. Meaning all the data stored in LastPass is kept private (even from LastPass). The biometric data is also encrypted at the device level and always remains on the user’s device.

Keeping your company’s data safe and secure should be a top priority. 80% of breaches are the result of poor password hygiene. It is important to find a solution that is secure for your company, but accessible and functional for your employees. Refusing to take into consideration how accessible it is to your employees could result in insecure workarounds.

Password Managers should be a part of any company’s ongoing cyber security and data security strategy. They can provide an easy way to keep accounts secure and employees only need to remember one password. LastPass is a personal favourite of ours because of its excellent features and MFA.

If you would like to talk more about how a password manager could improve our organisation’s security or would like to discuss LastPass in more detail, please book a meeting with us below.