CIO Influence
CIO Influence News Security

Nearly Half of Enterprises Store Passwords in Spreadsheets and Other Documents, Hitachi ID Survey Shows

Nearly Half of Enterprises Store Passwords in Spreadsheets and Other Documents, Hitachi ID Survey Shows

Nearly half 46% of IT, security, and cybersecurity leaders say they still store passwords in shared office documents. Thatโ€™s despite an overwhelming 93% of respondents that require password management training, with 63% holding training more than once per year. This is just one of the findings in a survey conducted by Pulse on behalf of Hitachi ID, a leading cybersecurity software provider focused on enterprise identity, privileged access, and password management.

Latest ITechnology News:ย NEC Selects DDN Storage for Japanโ€™s Largest Corporate AI Research Supercomputer

โ€œIt raises an important question about how effective password management training is when nearly half the organizations are still storing passwords in spreadsheets and other documents, and 8% write them on sticky notes,โ€ said Nick Brown, Chief Executive Officer at Hitachi ID. โ€œInsecure passwords are still a leading cause of cyberattacks, and education alone is clearly not enough. More companies need to follow the lead of the 30% who report that they store passwords in a company-provided password manager.โ€

The survey suggests many organizations know their secret and password management isnโ€™t up to par. When asked whether an employee leaving the company could take passwords with them, only 5% say they were extremely confident that wasnโ€™t possible. If they have to urgently terminate an employee, only 7% of leaders are extremely confident they can transfer passwords and credentials, terminate access, and maintain business continuity.

Latest ITechnology News:ย WISeKey INeS IoT Device Management Platform Enables Customers and Developers to Automate the Device and Certificate Management

That lack of confidence has real-world implications. Some 29% of respondents say theyโ€™ve experienced an incident in the past year where they lost access to product systems after an employee left the organization.

โ€œIn the midst of the Great Resignation, every organization should be extremely confident that passwords will stay in the company regardless of which employees come and go,โ€ said Ian Reay, Vice President, Product Management at Hitachi ID. โ€œA password manager like theย Hitachi ID Bravura Safeย centrally, consistently, and securely manages decentralized passwords, secrets, and files, allowing employees to safely share access while avoiding disruptions or the risk of a breach.โ€

Latest ITechnology News:ย Calix Launches New Software and Systems Capabilities for the Industryโ€™s Only End-to-End Solutions

[To share your insights with us, please write toย sghosh@martechseries.com]

Related posts

NTT DATA Awarded The Federal Communications Commissionโ€™s Application Development Support Services IDIQ

CIO Influence News Desk

Cambium Networks 60 GHz cnWave Technology Enables Pentanet to Rapidly Build a Multi-Gigabit Fixed Wireless Network Serving Perth, Australia

CIO Influence News Desk

Thales and Google Cloud Announce Strategic Partnership to Jointly Develop a Trusted Cloud Offering in France

Leave a Comment