Organisations
need to work
harder than ever to
close the gap; and
implementing flexible
working policies is
one way to get ahead
of the game.
varying degrees of success; however,
there are challenges that are being
overlooked. The main concerns revolve
around security, with many worried about
how remote workers can access sensitive
company data, while maintaining a secure
and safe environment.
With cyberattacks reported to have cost
UK businesses £300 billion (US$370
billion) in 2018, it can be a colossal
challenge for IT departments to ensure
that users who are logging in remotely
are doing so securely.
What is the threat? With 80% of security
breaches involving the abuse and
64
misuse of privileged credentials, the
threat is passwords. Everyone is raising
the alarm about weak passwords and
encouraging the use of more complex
ones as an easy form of defence.
However, complex passwords can often
cause more havoc than simple ones.
Imagine your IT department requires
you to change your password every
30 days, it must have one uppercase
letter, one number and contain one
special character. There is no way the
average person is going to remember
a new password every month. So what
happens? Users write their passwords
down, email it to themselves, keep it in
a spreadsheet, or, simply forget their
password and request a reset – the most
frustrating outcome for those working on
IT help desks.
A single user may have anywhere from
20 to 200 passwords across dozens of
enterprise-level applications, accessing
secure information from various devices
including laptops and smartphones.
In order to keep the remote working train
moving, we need to ensure every worker
is logging on to company networks
safely and securely. One solution to this
problem is implementing a single sign-on
(SSO) system that integrates multi-factor
Issue 17
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