Using the same password for multiple accounts – Good idea or a bad idea?
We all find it very easy to reuse our passwords on different websites, as it saves us the stress of coming up with a new password every time we need to open an account on another website. Even though it seems easy and stress free; the truth is, when you reuse or recycle passwords, you set yourself or your company up for trouble in the event of a data breach.
There have been so many stories of data breaches and web security pitfalls in recent years. These have affected big companies like Twitter, Last FM, LinkedIn, and Yahoo. The story all unfolds in the same way almost every time; First, hackers access passwords and other user data on these sites, then, the company realizes what has just taken place, so they immediately notify the users to change their passwords.
The Danger
The danger of reusing passwords in an interconnected web is that, if hackers get a hold of your password on one site, they could easily use the information they obtained to log in to your account on another sites. They could continue this cycle until they reach your bank account. This is called a chain breach. Every time you reuse a password on another site, you stand a higher risk of being a victim, a chain breach victim.
It may not be too damaging when you reuse passwords for your personal accounts. At least, you are the only one that will be affected if a data breach occurs. Yet, if a company’s information is involved, it then becomes more complicated. This would involve a lot of people and could potentially cause many difficulties for the organization.
Some Options
So how are we to store our passwords, you may ask? About 38% of people just store the passwords in their memory, to avoid this kind of data compromise. But we all know that even the faintest pencil is better than the sharpest memory. So, the likelihood of you forgetting it is higher this way (especially when you have multiple passwords for different accounts). Approximately 26% of people write it down in a physical notebook. But the problem with this method is, it can get lost and you might not always have the notebook available.
A great deal of companies and individuals resort to using a password manager, to avoid their data being breached. This is a software that helps store passwords for different accounts. However, if the password manager ever gets hacked, this could easily in itself become a one-stop data breach.
These days, many companies are taking steps further by forcing employees to change their passwords regularly; making use of tokens; and even doing away with passwords entirely. The companies do this, to avoid the security pitfalls that many of the big names have gotten into and stay off the pathway of a potential chain breach.
A Solution
Many other top companies who value their data and those of their users take it a step further, by hiring companies like Cynexlink, to provide the best-tailored cybersecurity solutions for their company’s information and that of their users.
