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2 min read
Published on October 13, 2022
Updated on November 5, 2024.
Employees within your organization can be your weakest link, so it’s important to ensure they’re practicing cybersecurity best practices. When not prepped with the right tools and resources, employees may fall into the habit of using bad password practices, such as reusing passwords and creating weak passwords that can be cracked instantly by cybercriminals.
Continue reading to learn the five biggest mistakes employees make with their passwords and how investing in a password manager can help them avoid them.
Mistake #1: Reusing passwords
Keeper Security’s 2024 Insights Into Global Cybersecurity Practices report found that 41% of people reuse passwords across multiple accounts. Reusing passwords continues to be one of the biggest password mistakes that people make, including employees. It is a dangerous practice because if a cybercriminal were to get a hold of just that one password, they could use it to compromise multiple accounts that use that same password.
Mistake #2: Creating weak passwords
Cybercriminals can easily access accounts that use weak passwords. According to Cyber News, one of the most used passwords ever is “123456.” As easy as this password is to remember, it’s even easier for someone to guess or crack it. When creating passwords, they must always follow password best practices such as:
- Be at least 16 characters long
- Include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols
- Not contain your personal information
- Not contain common dictionary words and phrases that relate to one another
- Not contain sequential numbers and letters
- Never be reused across multiple accounts
Mistake #3: Insecurely storing passwords
It’s difficult to remember passwords for multiple online accounts, which is why people often choose to store their passwords in insecure places such as on a piece of paper, spreadsheets and their phone’s notes app. While these methods of password storage are convenient, they are more likely to end up in the wrong hands because they are not encrypted. Encryption is what turns data from a readable format to an unreadable format known as ciphertext. All sensitive data – including passwords – should be encrypted to ensure that no one but the owner of the account can access them.
Mistake #4: Sharing passwords insecurely
It is never a good idea to share passwords with anyone using an insecure method. This includes sharing passwords through text messages, emails and other messaging platforms. These methods of password sharing are dangerous because they can be easily intercepted by unauthorized individuals and used to hack into online accounts. Oftentimes, employees need to share passwords with coworkers and third parties. If they use an insecure method to share those passwords, they risk having their account compromised.
Mistake #5: Not enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Enabling multi-factor authentication is just as important as securing online accounts with strong passwords. If an employee’s password were to become compromised due to a data breach, MFA would prevent cybercriminals from being able to access their online account. It’s important that whenever MFA is available as an option, employees enable it to ensure organizational accounts are secured with an extra layer of security.
How a password manager prevents common password mistakes
Here’s how a password manager prevents employees from making common password mistakes:
- Generates strong passwords and passkeys: Password managers have built-in password generators that enable users to create strong, unique passwords for each of their online accounts with just a click of a button. As of recently, the best password managers can also generate passkeys.
- Securely stores passwords and passkeys: With a password manager, each employee has their own private password vault where they can securely store passwords, passkeys and other sensitive data. The only password employees will need to remember is their master password, which acts as the key to access their secure vault.
- Generates and stores 2FA codes: Some of the best password managers like Keeper® enable users to generate and store more than just passwords and passkeys. For example, Keeper enables users to use their password manager as an authenticator app with the ability to generate and store Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) codes in your password vault.
- Enables secure password sharing: Password sharing is necessary when sharing accounts with coworkers and third parties, which is why password managers enable users to securely share passwords without placing their passwords at risk of compromise.
Prevent employee password mistakes with Keeper
Employee password mistakes can have devastating consequences for your organization, making it important to invest in a password management solution like Keeper. With Keeper Password Manager, IT admins are given full visibility into their employees’ password practices so they can take steps to ensure organizational accounts are always secure.
Keeper’s password manager is zero-trust, zero-knowledge and end-to-end encrypted, providing your organization with the most secure password management platform.
