UK businesses need to step up their password management game

Despite doing a lot to keep their organisations safe, IT leaders are still falling short due to bad password practices.

A new report by OneLogin found that almost all organisations in the country have some form of cybersecurity guidelines or best practices, and many IT decision makers are confident their measures provide adequate protection.

However, two thirds don’t check passwords against common password list, and more than three quarters don’t check employee passwords against complexity algorithms.

"This report should be a reminder to every business leader in the UK to carefully review their password management," said Thomas Pedersen, OneLogin's chief technology officer and founder. "Cybercriminals thrive on companies overlooking fundamental security requirements, which becomes an open invitation for any hacker on the hunt for easy passwords."

The report states that many organisations ‘lack fundamentals’. Including checking passwords against rainbow tables, not requiring special characters, and not requiring numbers, or letters in upper / lower case.

It also states that mandatory requirements are ‘concerning’, with 53 per cent requiring single sign-on integration, 35 per cent having implemented password complexity policies, and 70 per cent having not implemented password rotation policies.

"Companies need to adopt a security-first approach with simple identity and access management features, such as OneLogin, to streamline their password resets and implement SSO and MFA tools and best practices,” added Pedersen.

source itproportal

Industry: Cyber Security News