We all know that passwords are important in protecting our accounts and data. In spite of this, hackers regularly obtain passwords and use them to steal, sabotage, extort money and even take over your identity. Even though we know this, the problem pf poor passwords persists, and is a particular issue for businesses where staff work off-site.
Good password practices are important for all of us, at work and in our personal lives. Here’s how businesses can make sure that passwords do what they’re supposed to do: protect your data. The tips below apply to anyone using passwords, but special attention should be paid to passwords used by staff working remotely.
Make Sure Passwords are Strong
Most people know that there are some useless passwords in common use – like ‘password’ and ‘1234’. Complex passwords are essential, on both company devices and personal devices, such as smartphones, that are used by staff when outside the office.
What do strong passwords look like? They should be long, should include a combination of letters, numbers and special characters, and use both lower and upper case. F3$cKa7&nD is a strong password, but the problem is that it’s almost impossible to remember. The solution is to use a password manager. All your passwords will be stored securely, with easy access, and you’ll only need to remember one password to access them in the password manager.
Additional Measures
Passwords are important but it doesn’t stop there, especially if staff access your systems remotely. You should also:
Secure all devices in use
People often use several devices when working out of the office, such as a smartphone plus a tablet or laptop. These may be devices that the company supplies staff with, but often people use their own phones and computers. Every one of them should have high quality security software installed. It may incur extra expense to install it on devices that aren’t company-owned, but it’s worth it if it protects you from hacking, malware and data breaches.
Use multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) entails using a password plus one or more method of confirmation, such as entering a code sent by email or text message. Even if a password has been accessed by a hacker, it’s far less likely that they’ll also have the secondary authentication information required to login.
Use a VPN
A VPN, or virtual private network, allows you to create an encrypted connection to your network. This is infinitely preferable to the use of public connections, such as those found in airports, which are notoriously unsafe. Encryption also goes a long way to protect your data.
Create protocols for data sharing
Clear policies about how data is shared and stored mean that your staff know how to comply with best practices. For example: is it okay to save work files to their personal computers, or on flash drives or other external devices? Is it acceptable to email files to their personal account so they can access them when they’re at home, rather than in the office? Guidelines on how to transfer information will help to avoid exposing your data to unauthorised persons.
Remote working is common today, but poses risks that all businesses need to manage. If your staff work from home, or if they conduct work outside the office, extra measures to ensure data security is essential. Quikteks can help you with all aspects of the additional security needed if your employees work remotely. For expert advice, call us at (973) 882-4644.