Don’t default on your commitment to password security
What’s the one thing you must do to protect your cybersecurity, even though you hate doing it? If you answered, “creating a password”, you’re dead right. Passwords are an essential barrier against cybercriminals and believe it or not, they’re still extremely effective as long as they’re complex enough so that they can’t be cracked.
Unfortunately, many of us are still using easy to guess classics like 1234 or worse still, leaving our device passwords on factory default, potentially putting our valuable information at risk.
Let’s take a look at the risks involved in lax password management and find out how you can secure your devices.
Default passwords mean cybersecurity trouble
No matter how large your business, chances are good that you have a variety of devices – from routers to smart printers and of course, computers – linked to your network.
These devices probably came with a default password set by the manufacturer, and while this is convenient when you set up the device, you need to change it immediately to avoid compromising the security of your network.
- Cybercriminals trying to gain access to a company’s network will often use a device with a default password as the first point of entry.
- Once they’re in the network, they’ll scan other devices, looking for the same weakness.
- Practically speaking, this means that just one device with a weak or default password on the network can compromise your company’s data security entirely.
To eliminate the weak link in your cybersecurity chain, you’ll want to do a password audit on all your devices to make sure that they’re difficult to guess. You can learn more about avoiding weak passwords on Soteria’s news page.
Cybercriminals use simple tactics to infiltrate passwords
With more than 93 000 attempts across Africa to brute force logins and passwords in 2022, the need for protection of devices is clear. A brute force attack is when hackers use trial and error combinations to guess login or password access.
Using only the most popular login combos such as ‘administration’, ‘admin-admin’ or ‘guest’ variants, cybercriminals are intensifying their attacks by capitalising on the weak security of devices.
Match password security and secure cloud storage
Securing your devices using advanced passwords is the first step, and a relatively simple step, toward uncompromisable data security – but it may not be enough to prevent a ransomware or cyberattack.
Secure cloud storage means your data is kept safe in the cloud in encrypted form so that you can always access and restore it if the worst should happen.
To start protecting your sensitive client and company data today, browse our range of secure cloud storage packages.