How to protect your business in 2023 with the best practices for Password Security

It’s beginning to feel like there is a new data leak, ransomware incident or security breach pretty much every day at the moment. And there is no doubt that these threats continue to increase and become more sophisticated. However, there are simple steps that most businesses can take to protect themselves against cyber attacks and security breaches and one of the easiest is implementing best practices for password security.

Password security is a non-negotiable

Passwords are vital but that doesn’t mean we necessarily enjoy using them. According to one set of Gartner stats, up to 50% of all help desk calls concern passwords. It may be that one day we no longer need passwords to keep systems and data secure but for now they are a key line of defence against cyber criminals and anyone looking to profit from obvious vulnerabilities.

Best practices for password security

• Make sure you’ve got the basics covered. For example, don’t use ‘password’ as your password, don’t tell anyone your password and don’t pick a password that is easily guessed, such as your dog’s name.
• It’s important to have separate passwords. Imagine your passwords are keys - if you use one single password for everything, then you basically have a skeleton key that will open every door/car/window etc. Yes, it makes it easy for you to gain access but it also makes it really easy for someone else to do the same. Once they have that single password, it’s access all areas, so it’s much more sensible to have different passwords for different places.
• Passwords need to be complicated. Even if you’ve got a separate password for every single account you still need to make sure that each one is not easily guessable if you want to have optimum password security. So, that means avoiding complete words, or anything too simple such as ‘password1234.’ The more complex a password is, the more difficult it’s going to be for anyone to get into the system or account it’s protecting.
• Once you have your really strong password, keep it until you believe it has been compromised. Regularly changing passwords is counterproductive as you have to keep thinking of a new password each time. If your policy requires you to update your password, use a password manager. This will not only remember every password for you but it will create a new complex password
• Opt for a password management solution rather than trying to remember everything yourself. If you’re attempting to hold multiple passwords in your memory then you might find you end up noting them down somewhere, on post-its or in places where they can be easily seen. Instead of doing that try a password manager - there are plenty of these online. 

Password security is a vital part of keeping your business protected - and everyone in your workforce needs to do it. These are some of the simplest ways that you can get started today.