3 Ways to Augment Your Password Security Practices

Data breaches grow ever more common, especially in the professional sector. In the wake of high-profile hack attacks like those that targeted Sony and Home Depot, businesses are finding it more important than ever to invest heavily on security procedures and practices. However, one of the consistently forgotten aspects of security best practices is the password.

While passwords have been proven in recent years to not be as effective as they used to be, it’s still important to maximize your business’s password security. What it comes down to is the fact that the future of your entire organization, and all those who are associated with it, are on the line. It’s your responsibility to make sure that your entire staff knows how to keep password security at an all-time high.

Inform Your Staff About Password Security Best Practices
According to Processor magazine, “In establishing a pragmatic password policy, the first step is balancing risk, compliance, and usability needs, followed by education and enforcement.” This means that it’s up to you to make sure that all of your employees are following strict security standards for their passwords.

Passwords should include many different types of characters, including symbols, numbers, lower-case, and upper-case letters. You should avoid using whole words whenever possible, and strive to make them as difficult to replicate as you can; and whatever you do, do NOT use your Social Security number or birthday. Taking these preventative measures will decrease the chances of hackers accessing accounts without permission.

Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication is a simple method to handle a not-so-simple security threat. Hackers might have access to tools that allow them to guess millions of passwords within seconds, but they can’t crack two-factor authentication unless they have access to an external piece of your hardware, like a USB key or a mobile device. While this still doesn’t make it impossible for a hacker to gain access to your account, it does add an extra step to the authentication process; which might be enough to discourage hackers in the first place.

Take Advantage of Strong Network Security
Even with all of the password best practices in the world, you’re still vulnerable to many threats that might try to attack your network directly. If this is the case, you better hope that you’ve taken better security measures than Sony did when they got hacked last year. Once hackers got into their infrastructure, they could clearly see a folder named “passwords,” which (of course) held the passwords for many Sony employees. All of this could have been avoided if Sony had practiced better network security.

To avoid meeting the same fate as Sony, you should make network security a top priority. One of the best ways to do so is by integrating a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution into your network’s infrastructure. With a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter in place, you’ll be confident that you have the best security measures on the market put into place.

To make a long story short, passwords are still just as important as they used to be. Don’t let a hacker get into your network because your organization’s security policies have grown lax. Give Computerware a call at (703) 821-8200 for more information about how to take maximum security precautions against threats.