Strengthen Your First Line of Defense. Best Practices for Password Security.

With most, if not all, aspects of business now digitized, the need for credential security is paramount. Credential theft has become the most damaging threat for businesses today. Cybercriminals use a multitude of ways to gain access to business credentials and gain access to the most sensitive information belonging to you, your employees, and your customers. A recent report by Verizon shows that over 70% of successful breaches involved stolen credentials. Now is the time to begin taking advanced measures beyond passwords alone.  

Common means of credential theft vary in their approach and often build over the course of weeks or months. It usually begins through things like phishing emails (fake login pages or official-looking emails that trick users into handing over their logins), keylogging (malware attacks that record keystrokes to access login info), credential stuffing (when a hacker takes stolen usernames and passwords from one website and tries to use them to log into other websites, and man-in-the-middle attacks (when criminals intercept secure data on unsecured networks).  

The days of only depending on password combinations and usernames is long gone. This alone is no longer adequate because passwords are often reused across platforms and those passwords are often weak and easily deciphered and stolen. To combat this, businesses need to adopt a multi-layered approach through several advanced methods to secure logins: 

1. Multi-Factor Authentication is one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect your business from credential theft. This includes a password along with an additional code or biometric needed to gain access to the account.  
2. Passwordless Authentication abandons usernames and passwords altogether to instead use biometrics or push notifications to your device to approve or deny login attempts.  
3. Authentication systems that detect unusual behavior with authentication attempts. These methods look for logins on unfamiliar devices, access attempts during unusual times of the day, and multiple failed login attempts.  
4. Adopting a “Zero-Trust” principle that trusts no one and always verifies.  
5. Employee training must be an ongoing philosophy and regular practice in how to rightly use defense systems/methods as well as what to look for in hacking attempts.  

Cybercriminals are always evolving and updating their methods to hack into your business. Sadly, it’s not a matter of if but when in today’s technological environment. However, by following these simple and effective tips, you can stay ahead of emerging threats. Call Tech Eagles today for a free network assessment, or to find out more about tools to protect your business!