Why Simple Password Management is a Major Threat to Your Business

Oct 21, 2021

Two of the most valuable assets a company has are its employees and its data. Keeping data secure with appropriate identity and access management (IAM) solutions is something that keeps technology leaders up at night. Due to major advancements in criminal digital attack methods, we have surpassed simple password management solutions to keep information proprietary. Years ago, we would hear about how a single cyber-criminal caused damage to large companies. Nowadays, anyone can learn how to hack online and as a result, cyber-criminals have substantially multiplied over the last few years. This is why it is critically important for companies to migrate to multi-factor authentication solutions. 

A company’s cybersecurity is only as strong as its weakest link. And while employees are usually the most important asset to a company, they can also be their greatest risk in terms of cybersecurity. 85% of data breaches in 2020 included human elements according to the annual Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. They found that phishing attacks to trick employees into revealing personal information was the leading cause of data breaches at 30%.  Hackers can quickly and easily gain access to passwords as phishing attempts get more sophisticated. Hackers have multiple commonly used tools that can easily hack passwords instantaneously, which only work for companies that have minimal cybersecurity measures in place. If the easy tools don’t work right away, hackers can also use email addresses and other user information they may have purchased to send fake emails to phish for employees' passwords.

Without proper identity and access management systems, companies are leaving it up to employees to not fall for hacker tricks and to use appropriate password security measures. However, a recent study from Visual Objects showed that 91% of employees feel that companies are more responsible for cybersecurity protection than workers. So it is unlikely that companies can simply break employees of these bad habits, as it is common practice to opt for convenience as human beings. They also found that 63% of employees use the same password for multiple accounts on work devices. Reusing passwords substantially increases security vulnerabilities in the workplace, given a hacker can then gain access to multiple accounts with various levels of proprietary information. 

This is especially critical as more companies and employees are working remotely, which introduces more vulnerabilities to keeping company information secure. A top United Nations chief said there has been a 600% rise in malicious emails during the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press reported. Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report discovered that nearly half of the data breaches occurred in small organizations. And they found that around 80% of these successful breaches in small organizations are due to system intrusion. Many times this can result in the hackers demanding a ransom to get your access back. Companies without strong cybersecurity products should ask themselves, what’s the most important and proprietary part of your business? How much would you pay to get it back if someone were to take that information hostage?

This is why it is critically important to implement a multi-factor authentication system to protect your company’s assets. Cybercriminals are looking for easy targets. Companies without identity and access management in place allow cybercriminals to gain access to your proprietary information quickly and easily. Interested in learning more? Reach out to Omni Data partners at 203-387-6664 or by email at learnmore@myomnidata.com to get a free consultation on how we can implement best-in-class identity access management solutions for your business.

Looking for more information about Microsoft requiring two-factor authentication? Read more here.