News: Only 35% of Employers Make Their Remote Workers Update Their Passwords Regularly
If you have employees working remotely, you should make sure that they change their passwords more frequently to keep business data safe.
According to the Psychology of Passwords report from LastPass, only 35% of business owners make their remote employees change their passwords regularly. This simply means a whopping 65% of business owners don’t ensure that remote employees update their passwords frequently.
Being a small business owner doesn’t make you invisible. In fact, 28% of data breach incidents involved small businesses. And it goes without saying that poor password practice is a weak link in your cybersecurity chain.
So, making certain that your remote employees update their passwords on a regular interval is a good practice to strengthen cybersecurity.
Psychology of Passwords Report 2021
Covid-19 changed the way people work. Now, companies are increasingly allowing their employees to work remotely.
As the Psychology of Passwords Report 2021 found, 71% of employees work partially or wholly remotely during the pandemic.
With more and more employees working remotely, it can be challenging for small business owners to ensure cybersecurity. This is because:
- 46% of remote employees didn’t strengthen their passwords
- 44% of employees shared passwords and sensitive information working remotely
- 45% of remote employees didn’t change their password even after a data breach had occurred
One cannot blame employees alone for not taking the required measures to ensure cybersecurity. Many employers are also not doing their part in this matter. The key findings of the report also verify the same.
Look at the following data from the report:
- Only 35% of employers enhanced authentication methods
- 39% of business owners made sure that remote employees logged on to the company network via a secure network
- Only 35% of employers made their remote employees update their passwords regularly
As a business owner, you should take a proactive approach and ensure that your remote employees are following strong password practices to stay safe online.
Dan DeMichele, VP of Product Management for LastPass, said in a prepared statement,
As we continue to grow our online presence, we need more robust protection for our online information. One way to combat this is by investing in a password manager which can be used to store your personal and digital information safely. As a business or IT lead, adding an additional layer of security, including multi-factor authentication or single sign-on options, will help to ensure that your employees are the only ones accessing their information.
Tips to Creating Strong Passwords
You should not only ensure that your remote employees update passwords frequently but also encourage them to create strong passwords.
Here are some tips that can help your remote team come up with strong passwords:
- Choose a long password (at least 10-15 characters)
- Use a mix of characters (Symbols, numbers, uppercase, lowercase)
- Never use memorable path on the keyboard to create passwords (QWERTY or 12345)
- Create a unique password for each account
Small business growth expert, Ramon Ray, says,
Small businesses are increasingly becoming targets of hackers. So, a strong password alone is not enough. You must implement at least two-factor authentication to protect valuable data in your business.
Explore various authentication methods and pick the ones that suit your business in order to prevent cyberthreats.
About the Report
An independent market research firm surveyed on the behalf of LastPass to look deeper into password behaviors in the time of remote working. The survey included 3,750 professionals from various industries in seven countries. Click here to know more about the report.