Horne & Benik Networks Blog

Password best practices (and common sense, if we’re being honest) tell us to always use a strong password for every account we have. This is because, unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to crack a weak one anymore. A bit of software on a standard computer can crack millions of passwords in a matter of seconds… so the more complex and randomized a password, the better and more secure it will be.

However, this can also make it a real challenge to create and then memorize sufficiently complex passwords. To help, we wanted to share a fun trick.

Every time you log into an account, you have to enter a password. And we know exactly what you’re thinking: why? Good password hygiene is important, especially in high-profile environments like your business. Passwords play a crucial role in securing your network, so you should know how to build better passwords—if not for your own sake, then for your business.

That’s not hyperbole. This isn’t some click-bait title to try to get you to care about cybersecurity. A password you use has certainly been stolen, and statistically, more than one of your passwords has likely been compromised.

How this affects you depends on a number of factors, so let’s get into that, and talk about how you can protect your identity, your business data, your customers, and prevent a whole lot of problems.

Passwords have long been a cornerstone of online account security, paired with usernames to form the basis of most login systems. Consequently, they are prime targets for hackers seeking to steal credentials and gain unauthorized access to accounts or networks. The inherent weaknesses of poor passwords have become more apparent in recent years, however. This has prompted the growing adoption of additional security measures available to users.

Even though passwords are not the most reliable security measure out there these days, they are still important and the first line of defense against potential threats. Today, we want to discuss how you can make better passwords for all of your accounts.

It doesn’t matter who you are; your age, your occupation, your employment status, your station in life—you need to make 2024 the year you get your cybersecurity hygiene in check. What we’re going to talk about today isn’t overkill, overly complicated, or expensive. This isn’t us trying to sell you on something. In fact, this is probably the easiest New Year's Resolution you can give yourself.

First, let me start with a really quick story.

Passwords are what separate you from someone else’s private information, their money, their subscriptions, their personal data, their business, and even their livelihood. If you were able to easily crack a password, you’d have access to the wealth and identity of another person. In this blog, we’re going to show you just how to do that.

Whether you’re talking about identity theft, data breaches, or any other form of cybercrime, one of the leading causes of successful cyberattacks is the use of insufficiently secure passwords. Just how easy is it for someone to bypass such a password? Let’s consider the facts.

World Password Day is indeed a thing, and it’s a thing to celebrate in the world of business technology, as it celebrates password awareness and advocates account security in a time when cybersecurity has never been more important. To help you observe World Password Day, we want to go over why passwords are important and why you need to take password security seriously.

While at the moment, passwords are an important part of your security stack, it is important to acknowledge that the concept of the password was always a flawed system and is overdue to be replaced. This may become a widespread reality sooner than you may expect, too, especially with the buy-in that the big names in tech are demonstrating.

It’s been about a month since LastPass—one of the most well-known and popular password managers out there—suffered a security breach where attackers managed to worm their way into the systems where LastPass stored its source code. Let’s review the situation, and what your response should be.

Cybercrime is a major issue for everyone and especially for businesses. In fact, if you don’t have a solid handle on the actions you take, your IT may be more exposed than you think. This month we thought we would go through a few really simple actions you can take to enhance your security posture.

Have you ever heard of the concept of going passwordless? Considering how passwords have been central to data security and authentication for so long, you might be a little hesitant about the idea. However, data show that there are better options out there. Here are some of the better passwordless options your organization can implement.

Businesses and their employees ultimately need a lot of different online accounts, which means there are a lot of passwords that need to be sorted. To assist with this, many have turned to using password managers—applications that store passwords in an encrypted vault. There are a lot of reasons that these password managers are a popular choice. Let’s go over a few of them.

It’s no secret that passwords have long held center stage when it comes to data security, but if we’re to be honest, a password just isn’t sufficient to protect your business. Don’t get us wrong: passwords remain immensely important, but their role has diminished with the availability of other, more advanced security features. One of these features is something called multi-factor authentication.

With so many accounts required on an everyday basis, it’s no surprise that people often struggle with passwords and password security. One way that individuals try to manage the countless passwords used on a daily basis while keeping them secure is through the use of password managers. What does a password manager do, and why should you consider implementing one for your business?

In today’s business environment, where ransomware strikes just as often as just about any other threat out there, you need to take as many precautions as possible so that your organization does not become another victim or statistic. All it takes is looking at reports from various security firms to understand just how important even the most basic of security measures—the password—is toward keeping businesses safe.

Do you use different passwords on every account you’ve created? Are these passwords sufficiently complex? Chances are at some point you have repeated at least one password. Remembering 35 different logins for 35 different applications is hard enough, so it’s not surprising that the majority of people will use the same password for many applications. Bad password practices are all too common. So, how can you fix this?

Passwords are effectively the cornerstone of your business’ data security—if they aren’t up to muster, your protections could crumble. Unfortunately, many users shortchange their passwords to try to make them more convenient, also making them more convenient for cybercriminals. Let’s see how we could (and should) make passwords as effective as possible.

Every so often, we come across a bit of news that helps to teach not one, but two cybersecurity best practices at the same time. With the recent news of a cache of hacked Spotify accounts, we find just such an opportunity. Let’s review the two lessons to be learned.