Top Three Password Management Solutions For Businesses

The Digital revolution is moving steadily to impact all aspects of life. Nowadays, people are using the internet to work, study, socialize, entertainment, online banking, or shopping, to name only a few. While digital technology promised to make people's lives easier, however, it brings many challenges. For example, for every new website or web application a user signs up, a new password is needed to be remembered. For most people, remembering many passwords is difficult, how the thing would be with a lot of them! They find a work-around for such a problem by reusing the same for different online accounts. If the credentials of one account get exposed in a data breach, a hacker can utilize the same password to access all other accounts belonging to the same user. According to Google Online Security Survey, it found %52 of users reuse them for multiple (but not all) accounts, which is an awful security practice. According to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, 80% of data breaches are caused because they were compromised, weak, and reused.

The number of passwords that people need to remember is growing as technology advances. A study conducted by dashlane in 2017 found the average American Internet user owns 150 online accounts that need to be registered to access them. Suppose we implement the best security measures when creating passwords that are 15 characters long and a mix of alphanumeric and symbols characters. In that case, each user needs to memorize 150 unique, complex phrases for maximum account security. The same study projected by the year 2022, the number of online accounts will skyrocket to 300 accounts.

Fortunately, there is an effective way to address this issue: The password managers!

What is a Password Manager?

A password manager is a software program used to store user's credentials and can be used to generate secure passwords for online accounts. They are stored inside an encrypted vault or databases, using a master password. This software offers numerous benefits:

1. You do not need to remember all account passwords.
2. Can auto-generate highly secure passwords.
3. Protect users from phishing sites by storing the actual website URL in the password manager.
4. It can be synchronized between different operating systems; this way. You can use your password manager on a Windows device and your Android smartphone.

Password managers are now widely utilized to protect the work accounts of employees in enterprise settings. The following section will list three Enterprise Solutions:

Top three Enterprise Password Management

Popular password managers such as Keepass and LastPass free edition are adequate for average internet users. However, there are much higher security standards for organizations.

LastPass Enterprise

This is the business edition of the popular free password manager program. LastPass for business (see Figure 1) comes with the following key features:

1. Provides an integrated single sign-on to the central repository where all passwords are stored.
2. Supports 1,200+ pre-integrated applications, so employees can access these applications without even typing their password in the login form.
3. Supports all types of logins, from cloud-based applications to legacy and on-premises and ending with mobile devices.
4. Integrates with Identity Providers like Microsoft AD, Microsoft Azure.
5. It comes with a central admin dashboard to monitor all employee's logins from a central location.
6. Facilitates compliance with varying data protection regulations, such as GDPR and PCI DSS, through detailed reporting.
7. It comes pre-built with more than 100 policies that admins can enforce according to their security needs.
8. It can be used to store text notes in addition to account credentials.

Dashlane

Dashlane (see Figure 2) comes equipped with many features:

1. Encrypts passwords using the AES 256-bit encryption scheme, which is considered the strongest in the industry.
2. Supports two-factor authentication to access the encrypted password vault.
3. Provides a single sign-on to access all accounts.
4. Allows sharing passwords between users while encrypted.
5. Separates between personal and work passwords. This way, the administrator can monitor only work passwords.
6. Provides a centralized control panel where admins can monitor everything, adding new team members, and manage permission.

Keeper Business Password Manager

Keeper (see Figure 3) comes with the following features:

1. Provides a dedicated area (private, encrypted vault) for each employee to store their credentials and other sensitive files (documents, photos, and videos).
2. Generates highly secure passwords and enters them automatically in various websites and applications.
3. Supports two-factor authentication, customized role access permission, and various auditing tools to help enterprises remain in compliance with various frameworks such as HIPAA, DPA, FINRA, GDPR, and more.
4. Utilizes a zero-trust framework and zero-knowledge security architecture to avoid data breaches to the minimum.
5. Keeps a history of previous changes to stored records.

Summary

As the number of online accounts that a user needs to keep for personal and work increases, the need to keep these passwords and other sensitive files in a secure vault increase. Enterprise password management programs allow separation of personal and work credentials in separate vaults, offer two-factor authentication and provide various auditing tools to remain in compliance with different data protection frameworks. The most apparent advantage is a central control panel where administrators can monitor all activities and ensure everything is conducted according to the enforced security policies.