About Outside Communications
Outside Communications is a boutique marketing and ad agency based in Portland, Oregon. The agency has core services in analytics, SEO, advertising, content creation, social media, public relations, email marketing and brand development. Its roster of clients spans industries from technology and manufacturing to tourism. These companies partner with Outside Communications because of its track record of delivering business solutions backed by data-driven insights and creativity.
The Challenge
Like many agencies, vendors and external partners, Outside Communications manages a variety of specialized software and sensitive data to collaborate on client projects — including those hosted in disparate environments. Clients entrust these systems and data to their partners. Client relations depend on seamless and secure collaboration.
The inherent vulnerability of all networks to cyber attacks, which is exacerbated by the expansion of an IT network to support external partners, is what prompted Outside Communications to implement a password manager in the first place.
The agency knew strong passwords were its first line of defense against cyber attacks. However, it quickly found that their existing password manager couldn’t support its needs and customer growth.
In working with clients and their marketing technology, the agency manages sensitive credentials and data. The administrative user-interface of any password manager should make it easy for teams and organizations to control and manage credentials, but Outside Communications found that logins and records were becoming disorganized and unwieldy. The lack of new features from their first password manager, like being unable to securely share new credentials with clients, signaled a lack of focus on security from their previous password manager.
Questionable security was something that Outside Communications couldn’t afford. For small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs), protection of organizational and customer data — and their customers’ customer data — is a matter of business viability. The National Cybersecurity Alliance found that 60% of SMBs go bankrupt within six months of a breach. An additional 12% are out of business within two years.
It’s a big deal when you make technology switches. It's a total pain in the body, and no matter how good the technology is for you, it doesn't make the process any easier.
–Lance Fisher, Managing Partner, Outside Communications
The Keeper Solution
Outside Communications evaluated multiple password managers before selecting Keeper for its business. Most important on its list of criteria in a new password manager were the underlying security of the solution and usability, noting that even the strongest system would only be as secure as the employees who adopted it.
For the Outside Communications team, the simple administrative and end-user UI of Keeper Business has made the management of sensitive client credentials and data easy and effective. The browser extension, in particular, allows the team to efficiently autofill logins to client systems across all major platforms, devices and applications. With the ability to mask passwords on top of it, Outside Communications limits the exposure of records. End-users don’t have knowledge of the credentials they need to log in, but they are still able to access work platforms.
In addition, the ability to centralize enforcement policies, like requiring a user to change master passwords and enable two-factor authentication on their accounts, provides added protection. Employees have to create strong passwords and verify their identity upon logging in, both vital steps in secure identity and access management (IAM).
At the same time, when team members need to send records or documents outside their organization, One-Time Share allows them to securely share sensitive information with select contacts in a time-limited method. One-Time Share provides Keeper’s award-winning encryption without the recipient needing to have a Keeper account. This allows Outside Communications to securely share confidential information with any of their clients, without having to rely on unsecure means like email or instant messaging.
Lance Fisher, the agency’s managing partner, noted that cybercriminals prize SMBs for their downstream potential, seeking out organizations who are unprepared or lax when managing valuable systems and data. With the pervasive threat of cyber attacks today, including the outsized risk they present to the viability of small businesses, the best course of action to secure vulnerable accounts is with the help of a password manager.
A company-wide password management system is imperative — from being able to audit password strength to shutting down access and even implementing zero-knowledge standards. A password management system raises the security bar and the way we can enforce best practices.
–Lance Fisher, Managing Partner, Outside Communications
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