{"id":22940,"date":"2023-05-04T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherweb.com\/blog\/?p=22940"},"modified":"2025-04-17T14:40:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:40:53","slug":"password-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/r-swca2-app15-sherwebbl-change-font-czgcf8cmcjh3asb3.canadacentral-01.azurewebsites.net\/blog\/security\/password-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways to strengthen your password policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re all familiar with burden of remembering dozens of passwords, both in our personal and professional lives. The fatigue is real! So much so that many of us are aware of the fact that we don’t always practice the best password hygiene. According to a recent LastPass report<\/a>, while 89% of survey respondents know reusing the same passwords is a security risk, only 12% actually use different passwords for all their different accounts. At the same time, only 33% of people use strong passwords for their work accounts.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, more than 80% of web application attacks involve stolen credentials<\/a>, and IT security teams spend up to 4 hours a week<\/a> dealing with password-related issues.<\/p>\n

So, what does this tell us? Simply put, that all businesses could benefit from tools and best practices for implementing stronger password policies. Fortunately there are plenty of password management solutions<\/a> on the market in addition to resources to help us all make sure we’re not leaving our respective organizations vulnerable to breaches and cyberattacks.<\/p>\n

5 ways to improve password policies and keep company data safe<\/h2>\n

#1 Establish a password policy<\/h3>\n

One way to strengthen password policies is to make sure they’re established in the first place! To be clear, password policies are a collection of rules to help companies increase device and network security. This usually means requiring users to create secure and reliable passwords by setting specific standards. Password policies often describe how passwords should be stored and used and how often they should be updated.<\/p>\n

Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence out there showing the importance of strong passwords, many businesses and employees don\u2019t comply. For example, more than 60% of people only update their passwords when and if they’re prompted to do so<\/a>. A lot of people also tend to use the same, weak passwords over and over again, judging by the fact that NordPass<\/a> regularly publishes a list of the 200 most common passwords.<\/p>\n

Here are a few password best practices to keep in mind:<\/strong><\/p>\n