Passwords are the gateways to our internet accounts and are the first line of defense for your company’s data. Think about what information is held within your company computers and accounts: Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for your customers (including name, phone number, address, and email) and PCI data (credit card and banking information). This information is extremely valuable, and small businesses like yours are regularly targeted by cybercriminals. Passwords are a common vector since once you crack or obtain one, it is trivial for a hacker to export all of the data on the account.
There are two big reasons you should be using a password manager:
1) Industry standard recommendations require strong, unique passwords. Generally speaking the longer the password, the harder it is to crack. It's also important not to use common words one can find in the dictionary. (You can read more from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency here). Ideally, your passwords look like this: "39)*Q$bU%ER%#ZsBew*Ai0HRIV25XiLl” (this one was just auto-generated from a password generator in 2 mouse clicks).
2) You need to remember that long, complex password for every site you visit. Would you rather store them in an encrypted database that only you can decrypt or in a spreadsheet or notebook that can be lost or stolen? Some businesses go the route of using shared spreadsheets like Google Sheets. But his has a number of issues as well since you have to carefully set up access controls, manage different groups, and track when people make changes. These are all intuitive functions of a password manager.
3) You’ll have to share a password with a colleague in many scenarios. Most people would just send an email with the login information. It gets the job done, but it’s not the safest way. TeamPassword allows you to share logins without potentially compromising data.
Are password managers easy to use?
These are the big security and management reasons, but there are a lot of intangible benefits:
1) Productivity: How many times a day are you trying to remember passwords or answering questions from colleagues that are trying to get into shared accounts? This is instant and intuitive with TeamPassword.
2) Avoiding Extra Accounts: It's easy to forget about the subscriptions you're paying for. When you have one spot for all of your company accounts, it's easier to keep track of what tools or software systems you are and aren't using.
3) Speeding up Secure Onboarding and Off-Boarding: OneLogin's 2019 study revealed that 50% of ex-employees still had access to company data, and 20% of businesses experienced data breaches due to former employees. With a password manager, you can create groups (marketing, accounting, etc.) and easily share and revoke access as employees come and go.
In the end, cybersecurity products don't directly contribute to revenue so they can be hard to justify when you purely look at cost-- in that way they're like insurance. According to an IBM study, the average cost per record lost in a breach is $150, which adds up quickly—the loss of 100 customer data records would be $15,000 (which more than covers the cost of a password manager). But this usually requires investigation and remediation, costing small businesses up to $200,000. If you have California Customers, their data is protected by the CCPA (check your website), which can fine businesses $2500 per record for an unintentional violation. Each state has its own specific rules, so it's helpful to check an overview of data privacy and security laws by state,
A Password Manager Can Help
Password managers, such as TeamPassword, enable users to create strong passwords and access them without remembering 16 randomized digits. By making it easy for users to comply with the most stringent password security measures, you keep your business and your customers safer. Start protecting your teams now with TeamPassword!
