Businesses vulnerable with ‘antiquated’ logins
Businesses are leaving themselves open to hackers by using standard username and password logins, Symantec warns.
Most firms still use standard username and password logins, placing them at risk of attack from crafty hackers, a report has warned.
Furthermore, these "antiquated" authentication methods make matters complex for workers, requiring them to remember various passwords, the Symantec-sponsored Forrester research showed.
Almost 90 per cent of users are required by their employer to remember two or more passwords, the survey of hundreds of global businesses revealed.
Even when it comes to partner access, 67 per cent of companies were found to not use two-factor authentication to protect their corporate networks.
Over half of companies polled admitted to having suffered one data breach in the past year, yet many businesses still rely on old authentication.
"The IT landscape is changing so dramatically and so rapidly that one in four organisations are requiring users to remember six or more passwords to access corporate networks and applications and as this Forrester study shows, that approach to authentication is collapsing under its own weight," said Atri Chatterjee, vice president of User Authentication at Symantec.
"As enterprises continue to open up, strong authentication can help keep the bad guys out."
A number of recent cases have highlighted the dangers of solely relying on username and login authentication.
Gawker Media admitted last month that passwords were stolen in a hack on its user databases. It subsequently recommended users change their passwords for any Gawker websites.
-
Hospital cyber attacks are increasingly hitting patient careNews New research shows only 14% are confident they can lose access to health records for 72 hours without risk to patients
-
Pope Leo launches AI commissionNews With a new encyclical expected to focus on the technology, the Pope is concerned about its effects on human dignity
-
The NCSC says it’s time to switch to passkeysNews UK security organization calls for companies to step up and offer more secure ways to login
-
AI agents are creating new identity security risks: 1Password wants to solve thatNews The Unified Access system from 1Password will help enterprises manage AI agent access across different devices and users
-
Using AI to generate passwords is a terrible idea, experts warnNews Researchers have warned the use of AI-generated passwords puts users and businesses at risk
-
Researchers called on LastPass, Dashlane, and Bitwarden to up defenses after severe flaws put 60 million users at risk – here’s how each company respondedNews Analysts at ETH Zurich called for cryptographic standard improvements after a host of password managers were found lacking
-
Thousands of exposed civil servant passwords are up for grabs onlineNews While the password security failures are concerning, they pale in comparison to other nations
-
Gen Z has a cyber hygiene problemNews A new survey shows Gen Z is far less concerned about cybersecurity than older generations
-
Passwords are a problem: why device-bound passkeys can be the future of secure authenticationIndustry insights AI-driven cyberthreats demand a passwordless future…
-
LastPass just launched a tool to help security teams keep tabs on shadow IT risksNews Companies need to know what apps their employees are using, so LastPass made a browser extension to help
