Intelligent CISO Issue 23 | Page 38

FEATURE of what is at high-risk of happening when good password management strategies are not adhered too. The ramifications crisscross both our professional and personal lives. Passwords literally can be found everywhere and we need at least one basic tenet to help fix a thousand-year old problem. Therefore, the most important security recommendation for everyone is to ensure that every password you use is 38 unique and not shared with any other resource (including people) at any other time. While there is no denying that remembering an already considerable and ever-expanding list of passwords (an average of 120 for the modern- day corporate user) is improbable for most humans, there are password management tools, solutions and techniques for making this a reality, thereby going a long way towards reducing password-related threats. Modern operating systems, browsers and applications can help create unique passwords for every resource, and securely store them for retrieval in lieu of a human having to remember every single one. The passwords are basically stored behind one unique ‘master’ password (it may also be referred to as a ‘key’ or ‘secret’) that only the individual knows. While this is good solution for home and small business users (to a limited degree), it does not scale to Issue 23 | www.intelligentciso.com