An excellent, thorough white paper recently produced by Splashdata, entitled “Secure and Efficient Password Administration Problem Solved by SplashID: Managing Passwords and Other Confidential Records in the Secure Enterprise,” deals with, as you might suspect, the problem of password security, critical in the modern enterprise.
Nobody argues with the notion that employees need more secure usernames and passwords, yet this increasing volume of username/ password combinations leads to major issues for IT managers.“Without the right password and information management solution, it is difficult for enterprises to simultaneously maintain employee productivity and ensure password and information security,” the paper contends, and it’s hard to disagree with that.
The SplashID paper does a good job identifying some of the major problems insecure passwords cause, with lack of compliance coming in first. There are well-known, accepted standards for creating and maintaining secure passwords, the paper says, “including specifying length, type of characters, and frequency of password changes.”
This much is standard with professionals, and if they had a company of IT managers it might work. But they don’t. “Unfortunately, these standards become a hassle for users. The frustration and inconvenience of remembering multiple secure passwords can lead employees to compromise prudent standards. Any of the common actions below make digital identities and sensitive information less secure, creating a serious corporate security risk,” the papers added.
Problem two is identity theft. Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard all the terrible press about it because it’s true; it is happening a lot and poor password management is the number one cause. “Even if all of your employees adhere to your organization’s password policy, outside identity thieves can still pose security threats to your organization.” Imagine the damage a thief could do to your organization if they were to steal the identity of one of your employees.
In conclusion, an effective password manager is key to not only protecting your business, but your employees themselves against many types of potential threats.
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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Rich Steeves