Do’s and Don’ts of Team Password Manager

If you are working in a business environment, you most certainly have to deal with a large amount of confidential data and various accounts, and your primary goal should be maximum security. A team password manager is a great solution for businesses that want to boost their security and help their employees manage all of their passwords in an effective way.

[thrive_lead_lock id=’1741′]Nowadays, we are all required to come up with numerous passwords for each and every online account, and they need to be unique and strong to turn the hackers away. However, remembering all of them can sometimes be close to impossible, but with the implementation of a team password manager, these problems are far behind us!

So, let us focus on some major do’s and don’ts of this powerful tool, as well as the features you should pay attention on and its pros and cons for your business!

1^st Do: Create a strong password

A lot of people have a tendency to come up with some really bad and oversimplified passwords which can be hacked effortlessly. If you include your or your loved ones’ birthdays, their names or the name of your favorite band in your password, chances are that it can easily be figured out.

If you are already aware of that, you will probably try to come up with something a bit more complex, for example adding your favorite number, your pet’s name and your mom’s maiden name to the same password, but this is also a huge don’t, as hackers are knowledgeable of techniques to crack such passwords as well, for example a tactic called brute force.

That is why you should always try to create at least a 12-character password and pick something that is really difficult to guess. And to achieve an even greater level of security, always go for two-factor authentication when possible. 

2^nd Do: Educate your team members

If you have learned to keep your passwords safe, you should pass on that knowledge to your employees to make sure you are on the same page. You can, for instance, provide them with reminders to change their passwords on a regular basis and explain the importance of doing that.

There are numerous articles online about companies being hacked due to their employees’ ignorance that you would want your team members to read in order to prevent them from making those same mistakes.

3^rd Do: Implement a team password management tool

Without the use of the right technology, there are always good chances for human error. Just consider all of the passwords your employees need to remember and use every day and how difficult that can be. This is why using a software to take care of all this is recommended.

Single sign-on (SSO) is one method to take into consideration, as it provides one account that your team members must access to get further access to other apps and accounts that they need. It will serve you as a vault which stores all of the existing passwords. Moreover, there are password management tools which might come in handy.

1^st Don’t: Reusing your passwords

You should by any means restrain from using your password multiple times, because if a hacker manages to crack it, they will have immediate access to all your accounts. It is surprising how many people are prone to making this mistake, and hackers are well-aware of that fact.

This is why you should never reuse or recycle your passwords, rather make sure you have a different and an equally unique one for each of your accounts.

2^nd Don’t: Keeping the same password for ages

In a majority of cases, people won’t even be aware of the fact their computers or accounts have been compromised. If someone hacked your system, they would make sure you don’t notice them. Because of this, you need to change all of your passwords on a regular basis.

If a hacker has gained access to your system, simply changing your password will prevent them from accessing it again and causing an incredible amount of further damage.

3^rd Don’t: Leaving your passwords unsafe

Sometimes, the biggest threat are not the hackers but keeping your passwords unsafe. Some people tend to write down the password they cannot remember on a piece of paper and leave it in a drawer or even on the desk in their office.

It is not necessary to start explaining why this might be a terrible idea. The soon as you leave your office your password may (and in the majority of cases – will) be stolen. Always make sure your passwords are kept safe and can be accessed only by you.

Must-have features

Now that you know more about the management of your passwords, you are probably considering the idea of implementing a good team password manager to your business to make your life easier, so let’s focus on some characteristics it should possess:

1. Monitoring tools and administrative controls – they include team sharing, dashboards, auditing, analytics etc.
2. Usability – the program you choose has to be simple and intuitive so that all team members are willing to use it regularly, which means that it should be engaging, effective, efficient, error tolerant and easy to learn.
3. Password sharing options – this is particularly important as it will prevent you employees from sharing their passwords via email or chat which a very risky thing to do. Instead, a good tool will enable you to share your passwords in a flexible and completely safe way.
4. Ultimate security – any password manager’s primary role is to offer you security and although they are all encrypted, not all encryptions are effective enough. The most recommended encryption method you should opt for is AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key length of 256 bits.

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To sum up, if you carefully examine some of the given ways to protect your most valuable data, the security of your business will be guaranteed!