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Passwords are a problem. In one sense they are exactly the opposite of what they should be. Theyโre hard for users to remember but easy for intruders to guess or steal. The user frustrations with the current system make it ripe for abuse, and thatโs exactly whatโs taking place every day.
The best solution for lawyers and law firms alike is to implement a password management utility. Weโll take a look at that solution after exploring the nature of the problem in greater depth.
Can you even count how many digital sites and services youโre required to log in to with a username and password? Most people have upwards of one hundred. Itโs challenging, if not impossible, to keep them all straight without some kind of assistance. People usually resort to one of several very insecure methods to solve this. One of the most common is reusing the same username and password on multiple sites.
Password Reuse Is Easy but Dangerous
Security professionals will tell you that reusing passwords is dangerous. This is because when (not if) your credentials are captured or stolen on one site, you become vulnerable on every other site that uses those same credentials. The problem here is that itโs just so easy to reuse passwords, especially on accounts we donโt consider to be sensitive in nature. Nearlyย halfย of security professionals themselves admit to reusing passwords, even though they know firsthand the dangers of doing so.
Strong, Unique Passwords Are Too Hard to Remember
If youโre not supposed to reuse passwords, then what should you do? Ideally, you should create a strong, unique password for every site. Each one should be lengthy (the longer the better) and should contain a mix of lower and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. The longer and more complex the password, the harder it is for a computer to crack it. People wonโt be able to guess Gbje23+3zp?$T0n very well at all.
The problem with a password like Gbje23+3zp?$T0n, though, is obvious. Youโll have a tough time remembering even one of those, let alone a hundred.
Experts will suggest other tactics, like turning a familiar phrase into a password. โFour score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth a new nationโ could become โ4s&7yaoFbfaNNโ. This method uses the first letters of each word (along with numbers and symbols where appropriate) to create a passcode thatโs nearly inscrutable but thatโs easier to remember.
This method helps, but it doesnโt scale well. Itโs true youโll have an easier time reproducing that than the previous example, but youโll still have a tough time replicating that a hundred times over.
The best solution to the password conundrum is using a password management utility. Setting up a password management utility isnโt difficult, and putting one in place greatly increases your digital security. Once youโve set up a password manager, you donโt even need to remember all those passwords. You just have to remember one.
How Password Management Tools Work
Password managers are programs or apps that function as a digital safe, or a digitally encrypted locker. All your passwords are stored inside the safe. Password management tools will also help you create long, complex, unique passwords for all your accounts. Some can even do this automatically once you supply your existing credentials.
With a password manager, itโs easy to maintain a different complex password for every account, because you no longer need to remember those passwords yourself. You just need to create and memorize one very strong password for the password manager itself.
Once youโve set up a password manager, it will autocomplete the login fields on most websites. For the few that donโt auto-populate, you can access a database of your account credentials and copy and paste the proper credentials into the corresponding fields. All the major password managers also offer some degree of integration with both iOS and Android. Your passwords remain accessible, yet secure, on your mobile devices.
The Security of Password Management Tools
Password management tools stake their reputation on their security. They arenโt perfectly secureโnothing is. Theย Washington Post notesย some of their flaws. They are, however, a vast improvement over most peopleโs current password practices. No one gets access to your vault without your master password, and hackers wonโt get that password from the utility makers since they donโt store your master password anywhere. Thereโs no database to be hacked.
On that note, make sure your master password is itself long and complex. Consider using the โfamiliar phraseโ tactic described earlier.
Lawyers have an obligation to keep their digital accounts secure. Doing so manually is difficult if not impossible. Implementing a strong password management solution is the answer. If you have more questions about implementing a quality password management system for your law firm, weโre here to help. Contact us today to discuss the options available.
ICS is a Texas-based 40-year-old technology company specializing in Managed IT, VoIP, Video Conferencing and Video Surveillance solutions for US and International businesses. ICS has over 4000 regional installations and specializes in multi-site businesses between 25 and 2500 employees. ICS’s customers enjoy the experience of ICS’s Total Care program which provides clients flat fee services with obsolescence and growth protection. Whether a customer elects to deploy their IT, Video Conferencing or VoIP in the cloud or on the customer’s premise, ICS can provide a full turn-key solution for our clients under one flat monthly fee.