Are your passwords safe enough for 2021?

Are your passwords safe enough for 2021?

Recently released, Lastpass ‘Psychology of password’ e-book, is a must-read for all tech minded individuals.

According to their research, 79% of people stated that having their passwords compromised was ‘concerning’, yet a staggering 51% rely on memory alone to remember their passwords. If you are reading this and you’ve ever forgotten your debit or credit card pin-number, you will know how dangerous that can be! Moreover, 92% of people interviewed know that using the same, or a variation of the same password can be risky, but most still go on to do it because of how easy it is to remember. 

At Telappliant we keep our business passwords locked up in a secure vault, guarded by fire breathing dragons…. Ok, so that last part was a bit far-fetched, but we do use a password vault to protect our business critical passwords. Do you? 

The Ebook highlights those key areas where individuals might be more vigilant, including finance, medical records and business, yet only 8% of individuals knew the importance of not using personal information. Shocking that 92% of participants still didn’t recognise the impact that a weak password could have. 

Setting business standards

Businesses should be setting an example to their employees when it comes to online activities, and that includes password protection, dark web monitoring and more. Our digital footprints are getting bigger by the day, which is particularly apparent in today’s society of remote and hybrid working practices

As a rule of thumb, passwords need to be long, a mix of letters, numbers & special characters and difficult for hackers to crack. Often IT departments will set passwords for PC’s and emails, but how many business profiles do you have that require a password? If you are using personal passwords, the chances are it’s not strong enough to protect your business information.

Does that mean that IT departments have to generate passwords for everything being used online by employees? 

In essence, no. In today’s world we should all be hyper vigilant when using or signing up for any online system or service as hackers can hide in lots of places. But if your organisation isn’t doing enough to drive the message home through effective cyber training, eventually there is the potential for this to happen. 

This means that IT departments need to rethink their existing security strategies to help protect their employees working from home.

Robust protection?

As we were all working from home during the Coronavirus pandemic, less than half changed their working practices online, and with the UK jumping straight into remote working, did your organisation have the right online security in place? If you didn’t have to log on to a remote network, you’re not alone. 

If you need more information about how Telappliant can help with your online safety, you can visit our cyber security services.