Password authentication isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s part of our culture, users and employees are accustomed to it, and many systems depend on the “what you know” layer. Newer technologies like biometrics might work in certain situations, but they won’t replace passwords altogether anytime soon. In our series on password security, we’ve talked about some worrying trends, the myths …
Blocking Basic Dictionary Words is not Enough
For many organizations, password security comes down to simply implementing blocks on basic dictionary words from being used in the creation of a user’s password. This is not an effective way to secure passwords and may in fact make the creation of a secure password more difficult. There are many ways to improve password security that go beyond blocking dictionary …
The Benefits of Specialization in Threat Intelligence Research
Keeping Perspective Broadly speaking, a threat is a potential negative action or event that impacts a network or system. In cybersecurity, the term refers to intentional events, like hacking. A threat actor is an individual or group that performs a negative action. In the cybersecurity industry, threat intelligence research can provide some benefits to companies. It can drive organizations to …
A Benchmark for Your Unsafe Passwords
News and warnings about data breaches and leaks abound at the moment, emphasizing the need for increased cybersecurity regardless of the industry. Microsoft’s Active Directory is often the perfect target for bad actors seeking to abuse compromised credentials. Despite the frequency of compromised credentials being the cause of data breaches, most organizations do not know whether their users’ passwords are safe. …
The Threat of Compromised Passwords
Over time passwords have become a ubiquitous part of our digital activities. They’re something we expect to create and manage for all of our accounts, and yet with all of our online accounts, having unique passwords can be difficult. Despite this, they remain the most common way of locking unauthorized persons out of our systems and away from our sensitive …
Old vs. New Methods for Employee Password Hardening
Employee password hardening: Do not just mitigate bad passwords. Eliminate weak and compromised passwords. Threats to password-based authentication can overwhelm organizations. Because passwords are still the most common way for users to access their account, they invite abuses from bad actors. It is made worse by the security negligence of employees. But hardening employee passwords can be difficult without introducing significant …
Protecting Employee Passwords in the Financial Services Industry
One of the most common threat vectors plaguing financial services institutions is the employee password. How can financial services institutions can better protect employee passwords? Banks, credit unions, investment companies, and other financial services organizations are facing an ever-growing threat from cybercriminals. In 2019, we have seen many high-profile data breaches hit financial organizations, resulting in financial repercussions and damaged …