Secure AND easy???

For those of you reading for the first time, In our first newsletter I outlined our idea to experiment with a positive cyber security approach. There are more purpose-led organisations out there than ever before, and they need to be cyber secure to realise their mission. The more of these organisations I speak to, the more I see the same issues - basic security practices that are missing. The most basic of all is getting passwords right. 

In newsletter edition 2, I talked about how passwords are core to our digital lives. They are the front door to our most important systems. In edition 3, I joked up 15 ways to guarantee a digital headache by being INsecure. 

Points 1, 2 & 3 touched the core issues organisations have with passwords on a day to day basis. 

For organisations who haven’t reviewed their cyber security practices, it makes sense to start with passwords. It makes little sense investing in fancy solutions such as dark web monitoring when one is using password123 for their Instagram account which has 100,000 followers. 

For organisations who are on a security journey, it still makes sense to address the very basic security risks. Let’s take some of the examples of our “be insecure” tips and discuss why they could lead to reputation damage and financial losses.

Be Insecure Tip 1: Reuse the same 3 or 4 passwords on all of your personal and work accounts. 

I totally understand why a lot of people use password rotation. Personally, we each have around 100 online accounts, each of which have a password. We can’t remember 100 so we use a handful and rotate them. 

Sadly, companies get breached often and passwords get leaked. Leaked passwords are picked up by other cyber criminals and used to try and get into our other accounts. So, if just 1 of your passwords get leaked, 25 of your accounts could be hacked. 

Be Insecure Tip 2. Don’t use a password manager to make your life easier. 

Password managers help you manage your passwords - who’d have known? A well configured password manager will seamlessly log you into websites when you visit them. The great thing about this is you no longer need to remember your passwords. The great thing about that, is the passwords can be long, unique and strong. Use a password manager well, and never click another “forgot password” button and importantly, you make it drastically less likely an important account will get hacked. 

Be Insecure Tip 3. Share all your work passwords with all team members in emails, shared documents, WhatsApp and Slack. Make sure you include your bank details too. 

This is a common way to share passwords but it’s insecure. Sending a password via email is like sending cash in the post. These platforms are not designed for password sharing, as your passwords are clearly readable if intercepted or mis-sent.  

Also, these platforms are usually secured with weak passwords, which get leaked frequently, making it easier for an attacker to gain access. On the other (secure)  hand, password managers have sharing features built in that provide a safe way to share passwords with another team member. 

So, if any of the following sounds familiar, read on

• Clicking the “forgot password” button on a frequent basis 
• Company passwords shared with all team members in a document
• Sending passwords via slack, email and WhatsApp
• Don’t know what systems previous team members & freelancers still have access to
• All systems have the same generic password structure, and you hope passwords won’t leak but it seems overwhelming to tackle 
• You tried using a password manager, but couldn't work out how to use it properly 

45% of breaches involve the compromise of a password. Why would criminals spend time and money inventing new hacking tools when they can log in to our accounts using already compromised passwords? 

So, to help secure purpose-led organisations and ensure they never click another “forgot password'' button, I've designed a service to ensure they make passwords EASY and SECURE. 

They’ll log into websites seamlessly, know and control who has access to what. All whilst stopping cyber criminals from getting into their most important accounts.

As humans we usually pick the easy option. Say you head to the fridge in pursuit to solve your hunger, two options are laid out: A yogurt or ingredients to make a healthy salad. Which are you picking?

Some of us have self-discipline sure but the majority will pick the yogurt as it’s quick, easy and requires no effort/thought. A salad requires way too much effort over the yoghurt.

Well security should and can be like this. Now using “password123” is quick, easy and requires no effort/thought. However, our service offers the same ease, whilst also being secure (“healthy”).

The service is beautifully simple. I don't know how I hadn't come across it already. It wraps live training (run by me, of course!) around password manager software. 

I help you set up and know how to use the password manager in an effective, efficient and secure way. 

The service is called Secure Passwords Forever and the result is, you guessed it, secure passwords forever, in a couple of hours. 

Click here or drop me a message to:

1. Stop getting locked out of accounts so you can avoid unnecessary distractions
2. Log into websites seamlessly and automatically - but with better security
3. Lock the front door and make it 45% less likely your organisation will suffer financial losses, pain and reputation damage through a data breach
4. Know in one place who has access to what, so you can only share the passwords team members need to see