As MSPs, your clients rely on you to secure their digital environments. Goodness knows, they aren’t going to do it themselves. Most small businesses actually have appalling security habits. The result? Over half have experienced some form of cyberattack. The security stack is your job, but the biggest vulnerability isn’t technology, it’s passwords. An alarming 63% of data breaches were the result of a weak, stolen or default password.
We all know some of the worst offenders - people using the same passwords for multiple apps, easy-to-guess passwords, and people using stickies and email to log and share passwords with one another. One of the biggest reasons for such poor password hygiene is that the rules governing passwords don’t fit with the reality of the average user.
Think about it. Passwords should be strong and complex, with at least 12 characters. Every account should have a unique password. (That’s over 100, for most people). Passwords should not be saved in the browser. The password should also be one that the person can remember. But how can they remember 100 strong, complex passwords? They can’t. So they cheat.
MSP Password Management Requirements
So how do you get your clients to adopt all of the password best practices without compromising security?
You need a password vault that does the following:
- Stores passwords
- Generates strong passwords
- Allows for self-serve retrieval
- Granular permission settings
- Audit trail
Getting these pieces in one password vault will remove the need for your clients to write down passwords in an unsecure location, will eliminate sending of passwords over email, and will end the problem of weak and re-used passwords.
MyGlue is a password vault by IT Glue, sold exclusively through our channel partners. For more information, visit www.myglue.com and sign up for a free Deep Dive demo.
Joshua Oakes is a content writer at IT Glue, which develops documentation software for MSPs. Read all IT Glue blogs here.