Did you know that the average business person has 191 passwords. Those 191 credentials are the gateway to personal and financial information.
According to a report by LastPass, 81% of confirmed data breaches are due to passwords. Yet 61% of people to use the same or a similar password everywhere, despite knowing that it is not a secure practice.
We often talk about passwords, but that password is often associated with an email address. The average email address is associated with 130 accounts. The good news is that more often than not, consumers are focused on security over convenience when it comes to credentials. That said, given the importance of our credentials, we need to do more.
So, what is the next step in locking down our credentials?
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is a second layer of security to protect an account or system. Users must go through two layers of security before being granted access to an account or system. 2FA increases the safety of online accounts by requiring two types of information from the user, such as a password or PIN, an email account, an ATM card or fingerprint, before the user can log in. The first factor is the password; the second factor is the additional item.
There are a number of fundamental steps that you, your employees, and your customers can be taking to help secure your credentials.
- Do not use personal information in your passwords.
- Create long passwords; and include special characters.
- Avoid writing your passwords down. Find yourself a secure password manager and establish good habits of consistently securing each password.
- Change your passwords on a regular basis.
- Do not use the same password across accounts-particularly financial accounts.
Need assistance educating your employees, customers or your community on best practices for securing your credentials, KII Consulting, Inc can help.