Password management best practices: 7 essential tips

While organizations continue to make security a priority, an important part of that effort involves educating and empowering employees with password management best practices. This includes understanding the role of strong and unique passwords in enhancing security.

Additionally, securely storing passwords is crucial to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Consider some of these statistics from the Bitwarden Cybersecurity Pulse Survey:

• 63% of IT professionals agree that, without a password manager, they would struggle to teach and enforce password security best practices across their organizations.

• 92% of businesses have invested in training their employees on cybersecurity best practices to identify and defend against social engineering scams.

• 15% of IT professionals think email poses the most concerning password sharing risk in their organization.

One of the easiest ways to encourage good password habits is to deploy a password management solution within the organization. Here is a list of password management best practices to enhance security:

Throughout the day people visit many different sites that require passwords. Memorizing tens of unique and sufficiently strong passwords (or passphrases) is virtually impossible. A password manager simplifies password use across different sites, helping users create and manage strong and unique passwords to keep them more secure.

There are a number of solid password managers out there. Prioritize those that work cross-platform, enable secure credential sharing, save time, and boost productivity.

Password managers need to be easy to use for every level of user–from beginner to advanced. When considering a large or distributed employee-base, the applications should be user-friendly and easy to deploy. For example, whether you choose to use Bitwarden in the cloud or deploy your own self-hosted instance, getting Bitwarden up and running is easy. And Bitwarden Directory Connector works with today’s most widely used identity providers (IdP) and directory services such as Azure, Active Directory, Google, Okta and others, to keep your Bitwarden users in-sync with teams and other employees. Additionally, password managers can help enforce password strength policies, ensuring that passwords are strong and unique to protect against unauthorized access.

The days of changing your password every three months are over. The best practice for password management is that you should now only change them if you think you’ve been compromised. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) doesn’t recommend users change passwords frequently. This actually leads to behavior that may result in weaker passwords over time. You can determine if you’ve been compromised by referencing tangible evidence, such as credit card fraud, or using a tool like your password manager that can tell if your password was exposed in a breach. Regularly reviewing stored passwords and updating them as needed can help maintain security and prevent unauthorized access.

Using strong, unique passwords for every service you use online helps minimize the impact of data breaches. A strong password doesn’t necessarily mean just adding special characters or numbers to a common word or name, it means increasing the password’s entropy, or randomness. One easy tactic for creating a strong password is to use a passphrase. A passphrase combines seemingly unrelated words or phrases that are easily memorable to the user but would otherwise be hard to guess by an attacker. Passphrases have a high degree of entropy while also being easier to remember. Avoid using the same password across multiple accounts, as this increases vulnerability to security breaches.

With two-factor authentication (2FA) becoming more common across consumer and business websites, good password managers should include ways to expand on this function. Using 2FA increases the security of your account by requiring you to enter another token beyond supplying your primary password for a respective account. Even if someone were to discover your password, they could not log into a corresponding account without access to the additional token.

Implementing password lifecycle management is crucial to ensure that passwords are properly created, stored, and revoked when no longer needed. A password manager can help automate many of these tasks, making it easier to securely manage credentials across multiple systems.

Creating strong, unique passwords for each system or application is the first step. A reputable password manager can generate and store these passwords securely, reducing the risk of data breaches. Changing passwords should only be required when a breach is suspected or if a security policy mandates it. Additionally, revoking access to passwords when it is no longer needed or when an employee leaves the organization helps maintain security.

To further enhance password security, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA adds an extra layer of protection by requiring an additional verification step beyond just the password. By implementing these practices, organizations can effectively manage passwords while reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Monitoring and auditing password use is essential for maintaining and ensuring compliance with organizational policies. This includes tracking login attempts, monitoring password changes, and auditing password activity across systems. 

Tracking login attempts helps detect and prevent brute-force attacks, where attackers attempt multiple password combinations to gain access. Monitoring password changes ensures updates align with  security policies, while auditing password activity helps identify password reuse and sharing – two common security risks.

A password manager enhances this process by providing tools to monitor and audit password use effectively. Regularly reviewing password data can reveal trends and vulnerabilities, enabling organizations to strengthen security practices. Implementing these measures helps detect and prevent password-related threats, ensuring secure and policy-compliant password use. 

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