Today, businesses of all sectors and sizes rely on users being able to securely access their accounts, to carry out their day-to-day activities, so in this blog, we explore why safer passwords are vital for all businesses and provide tips to create and manage passwords effectively.
Weak passwords pose a significant risk to businesses, leaving them vulnerable to common cyber threats which include:
- Account Takeovers: whereby weak passwords are easily guessed or cracked by cyber criminals or their computer programmes, this can result in a hacker gaining unauthorised access to your businesses email and calendars and sending malicious emails from your accounts leading to potential financial losses and reputational damage.
- Data Breaches: online criminals are constantly on the lookout for weak passwords to gain unauthorised access to business systems enabling them to steal sensitive data or hold it to ransom.
At the NEBRC we work to encourage the following National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) best practice for keeping secure passwords within your business:
- Use three random words. By combining three random words to create one long, strong single password such as (applemonkeyradiator), your password becomes much harder to crack and is much easier to remember.
- Implement two-Factor Authentication (2FA). Implementing 2FA across your business will add an extra layer of security by requiring a secondary verification method, sometimes this is a unique code sent to your mobile device. We can help you set this up!
- Use password managers. This is an app on your device which stores your passwords so that you don’t need to remember each one. Once you’ve logged in using one ‘master’ password, it can generate and remember passwords for all accounts. Access to password managers should be enhanced with a three random word password and 2FA.
- Host regular employee training. Regularly educating and training employees on the importance of strong passwords and the risks around weak, shared or reused passwords.
By keeping vigilant you can reduce the risk of you or your business falling victim to online crime. For further guidance drop us an email on [email protected].
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The NEBRC is an independent, police-led not-for-profit organisation that seeks to educate, inform, and support businesses in the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber regions on how to protect themselves from online crime and fraud through good cyber security practices.