Passwords are the only thing keeping criminals out of your most precious data and accounts. Access to your bank account, tax records, sensitive client information, and more are often behind a single user login.
The fact that more people are storing data online and the need to get past increasingly stringent cybersecuritymethods, has led to a rise in password theft.
According to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report, 77% of all cloud data breaches are the result of stolen login credentials. These insider attacks involve posing as a legitimate user so a hacker can seek out sensitive data, financial information, or plant malware.
Hackers steal login credentials a number of ways:
- Phishing attacks that fake sign-in forms
- Malware, like password dumpers
- Automated password algorithms that try all the common passwords
- Purchasing them on the Dark Web
Credential theft to gain access to accounts hurts both individuals and businesses.
An individual can have an account breached that has their credit card details saved, such as PayPal or Amazon, as well as their online banking account.
For businesses, the costs of a data breach are high because they not only have to pay to repair the damage, they also have losses related to downtime. The average cost of compromise for small and mid-sized businesses is $1.24 million and the associated business disruption cost averages $1.90 million per incident.
At Connect2Geek, we’re partnered with two powerful solutions that when used together can keep accounts virtually hacker-proof.
Part 1: Keeper Security Password Manager
People often make it far too easy for a hacker to gain access to their accounts. They use easy-to-guess passwords and use them across multiple logins.
A Google study found that 65% of people reuse their passwords throughout many or all of their online accounts. This happens for one simple reason, they have too many passwords to keep up with!
Trying to create and remember strong and unique passwords for the 191 different services that the average person uses a login for just isn’t possible for most people.
The solution is to use a password manager, and one of the best is from Keeper Security.
Keeper Security’s password manager can be used by both individuals and businesses to secure all their account logins and keep track of strong, unique passwords for every account.
Stronger passwords are more difficult for hackers to guess and compromise.
Here are some the benefits of this app:
- Users only need to remember one strong password to access all the others
- Best-in-class security using “zero-knowledge” architecture
- Easy-to-use interface that works across all devices
- Unlimited password storage
- Tracking and monitoring of logins
- Keeps passwords encrypted and secure
Part 2: Cisco’s Duo Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Strengthening your passwords to make them more difficult to hack is Step One to keeping your accounts secure from a breach. Step Two is making it more difficult for a criminal to get in if they do have your password.
Unfortunately, login credentials are stolen from large databases all the time. So, while you may keep your password secure, the vendor that provides the cloud service you use that password for might have a breach that exposes all their user logins.
If a hacker has your password, this second line of defense can keep them out.
MFA adds a second factor of authentication to grant access to an online account. This is usually a time-sensitive code sent to you via text or device prompt that has to be input to complete your login.
Using multi-factor authentication has been found by Microsoft to be 99.9% effective at stopping fraudulent sign-in attempts.
But unfortunately, many people don’t use it because they find using many different MFA systems on different apps cumbersome and time consuming.
Duo MFA is a single system that can be implemented across multiple logins, making the multi-factor process much easier.
The features that make Cisco’s Duo MFA a perfect solution for Treasure Valley area businesses and individuals include:
- Fast and easy for users to set up
- Several options for authentication
- One-tap device MFA
- Provides one solution that secures logins for multiple apps
- “Lightening-fast” MFA deployment that won’t slow users down
- Use for on-premises, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments
Using both DUO MFA and Keeper Security Password Manager are like a one-two punch that keeps hackers from gaining access to your sensitive accounts and data. Passwords are stronger and easier to manage and logins are secured even if a hacker has the password.
Plus, both these apps can improve productivity by streamlining the password management and login process.
Secure Your Accounts with Keeper & Duo Today!
Connect2Geek can help you get set up in no time with both apps to help make your accounts hacker-proof.
Schedule a free password security consultation today! Call 208-468-4323 or reach out online.