Outsmart Cybercriminals By Building Better Passwords
During a 6 month period in 2019, reported data breaches 4.1 billion records. 67% of reported breaches and 84% of the records that were exposed from those attacks were related to business, not personal. The stat that should make you cringe the most however is 65% of those business attacks were related to passwords. Password theft is the easiest way for cybercriminals to gain access to your network and your data. So why don’t most organizations take password management more serious?
The most fundamental way a business can protect themselves from cybercriminals is by taking password security and management seriously. Another interesting fact, the majority of system breaches happened to small-medium sized businesses that were classified as having a low to moderate severity score. It only takes a few keystrokes for an insecure password to become exposed from a bad actor.
Simple password tip: include numbers, symbols, and both upper and lowercase numbers. After you create a unique password that isn’t a repeat of anything you have used before, your business needs to also make sure you have two-factor authentication turned on. You need to also protect how you store your passwords. Writing them down on a scrap of paper or assembling a spreadsheet saved unsecured on your desktop can still potentially be unsafe. If you are using a password manager or password suggestion feature, there is no guarantee these are secure!
Don’t reuse or recycle a past password. 70% of employees claim they use the same password as work as they do at home. So basically, if you get hacked you have exposed yourself personally, as well as put your company in harms way. Do not use names and dates that are important to you as passwords. That is putting an easy target on your back, as even the most unsophisticated hackers can figure those out.
The reality is thousands of passwords are sold or traded everyday on the Dark Web. Cybercriminals have many tools in their arsenal they can use to clone, crack or steal even above-average passwords. Good passwords are a key component in building a strong defense against cybercriminals and cybersecurity threats. Ensure your business is improving your password generation, storage and security by creating a cybersecurity plan for your organization.
If you need help implementing a cybersecurity plan, solution or even training for your business, give us a call today. 2W Tech is a technology service provider specializing in solutions for the manufacturing industry. Let us help guide your business through your security practices and help you ensure weak password management will not be your demise.
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