People reuse the same passwords on multiple business and personal accounts. Millions of these reused passwords are stolen and posted for sale on the dark web. When Internet Criminals attack multiple accounts using these stolen passwords, your business and you are at risk of loss wherever that password is used.

Poor Password Behavior is Risky for Your Business

The Pollfish Survey of 1000 full-time employees across the U.S. in 2021 about their password habits documented disturbing data:

37% have used their employer’s name in a work-related password;

34% have used their significant other’s name or birthday;

31% have used their child’s name or birthday.

Password re-usage between personal and work-related accounts has become a gaping security hole for businesses:

44% of employees admit to reusing passwords for both personal and work-related accounts;        53% admit to keeping personal account passwords on their work devices, which increases vulnerability for the business;

People’s Poor Personal Password Behaviors dramatically increase the risks of breach at the business where they work, and where they re-use their personal passwords.

Risky Unsecure Password Sharing is another Poor Password Behavior to avoid!

The Pollfish Survey also documented that:

• 62% of U.S. employees report sharing a work-related password over text message or email, which could be intercepted by Internet Criminals in transit;
• 57% of U.S. employees admit to writing down work-related passwords on “sticky notes”, which can be read by anyone passing by the work area, and of course can be easily stolen;
• 49% of U.S. employees admit to saving work-related passwords in a document in the cloud, which when breached are easily stolen.

To protect your business, require all employees to use the company provided Password Manager Program with 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled and enforced. Only share passwords through this protected, encrypted, monitored and secure Password Manager Program.

Sharing passwords through uncontrolled communications is very risky to the business.

How can you protect your business from poor password behavior?

Who in your company has risky password behavior? How can you know your password policy is being followed?  Without the right tools, you can’t!

Ouch! Business owners, protect your livelihood and that of your employees.  A business grade Password Manager Program gives you the information you need.

Trust but verify! 

Secure Password Sharing

Have a written Password policy including clauses like:

– Passwords must not be shared with anyone, including supervisors and coworkers. All passwords are to be treated as sensitive, CONFIDENTIAL information.

– Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic communication, nor revealed over the phone to anyone.

The best thing to do is to require each person to use a unique password for each work-related account or application. This is done simply by utilizing a Password Manager Program. Only share passwords through a protected, encrypted, monitored and secure Password Manager Program.

Do NOT allow any of these:

• Unsecure password storage
• Storing passwords in a browser
• Weak passwords
• Short passwords
• Reused passwords
• Compromised passwords
• Shared passwords
• Patterned passwords
• Personal Information as passwords
• Celebrities, sports teams, or dictionary words as passwords

This huge hole in your business is eliminated with the use of a company-wide policy mandated Password Manager Program with enforced Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

Remember, “Secure Passwords” is one of

The 19 Essential Elements in True Small Business Data Security™ 

A Business Grade Professional Password Manager is the safest, most secure password storage for your business, like the one our employees use: 

Compliance Keeper Password Manager Security Business Pro™.

Your business needs Compliance Keeper Password Manager Security Business Pro™.

The secure password package we provide with it includes additional Security Audit and Breach Watch protection services. Click here for additional information.