For some time now, many organizations have claimed they’d go password-less. Even tech giants like Google and Microsoft want to kill passwords. Yet, almost two decades later, passwords remain the primary form of authentication in Gmail, Outlook, and other major enterprise applications. This all goes to show that passwords are going to stand the test of time.
Traditional passwords offer a few advantages over their newer counterparts, which may be part of the reason passwords are still around. For example:
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Passwords are backward compatible.
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Passwords are completely right or completely wrong.
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In case of a breach, passwords can be changed.
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Passwords generally do not carry any personally identifiable information.
All these advantages—combined with the better usability and cost-effectiveness that passwords offer, as well as the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT)—have led to a massive increase in the number of passwords in use. In fact, according to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures, the total number of passwords belonging to Fortune 500 employees will reach 5.4 billion in 2020. This persistently high password usage has a critical pitfall: if passwords are mismanaged, they can quickly open up organizations to security breaches, decreased productivity, and other drastic repercussions.
Also, Gartner estimates that 20 to 50 percent of all help desk calls are for password resets, and Forrester Research estimates that the average cost of a single password reset done by the help desk is about $70.
Seeing as passwords are going to continue playing a major role in the productivity of organizations, the smartest thing to do is to install password management software before the number of passwords increases to an unmanageable level. With the best practices of password management in place, organizations can prevent their productivity from plummeting.
Not sure where to find those best practices or which password management solution can help your organization best? We’ve got your back! Join our webinar “Top five password management features that enable better IT security and efficiency” to learn how you can keep your productivity intact and find the right solution for your organization’s password management needs.
Busy that day? Register anyway, and we’ll email you a recording of the webinar.
