Key takeaways from this article:
The reality of credential sprawl: Enterprises manage far more credentials than users can safely remember, increasing reuse and shadow IT risk.
Centralised security control: A password manager provides encrypted storage, policy enforcement and visibility that scales across teams.
Secure collaboration: Role-based sharing and collections enable teams to share access without emailing passwords or using spreadsheets.
Reduced breach exposure: Strong, unique passwords and auditing tools lower the chance that one compromised credential cascades across systems.
Foundation for broader security: Password management strengthens other investments (SSO, IAM, MFA) by securing the gaps they don’t cover.
Introduction
Smart cyber security superheroes need the right tools for the job. Building a comprehensive security stack with password management is critical for success. Here are 5 reasons why.
Because stolen passwords have negative effects
The average cost of a data breach is $9.24 million, and stolen or compromised credentials are often to blame.
Data records containing usernames and passwords are often the root cause of new breaches – two billion such records were compromised in 2021, an increase of 35 per cent over 2020.
Over half of all records breached were the result of unauthorised access, where bad actors gained entry to an organisation with passwords that were weak, shared or previously exposed. (Source: Forgerock Identity Breach Report)
81 per cent of hacking-related breaches succeeded through stolen passwords or weak passwords (Source: Verizon Breach Report)
A Ticketmaster employee hacked into a competitor’s accounts with login credentials stolen from a previous employer
DailyQuiz suffered a breach where attackers stole account information from 8.3 million users, including passwords stored in plaintext, and sold it on the dark web
A weak password may have allowed the infiltration of cyber security firm SolarWinds, resulting in the hacking of several US government departments
An attack on Microsoft Exchange email servers, at least partially due to stolen passwords, affected businesses and government agencies across the US
Attackers gained access to GoDaddy servers with a compromised password, exposing email addresses and customer details of 1.2 million WordPress users.
During the pandemic, as companies went virtual, Zoom was targeted by cybercriminals who were amassing stolen login credentials and trying to sell them on underground forums.
Because your employees need tools to help them practise better password habits
In a recent survey of 400 independent IT decision-makers across various industries, Bitwarden found that 92 per cent of respondents reuse their passwords across at least 1–5 sites.
The average person has created dozens of password-protected profiles to access business systems, websites and smartphone applications.
It’s natural for employees to take shortcuts to minimise frustration and password fatigue, like reusing passwords across business and personal accounts and sharing passwords with co-workers.
A password manager is a great way to enhance a security culture throughout your organisation. Not only is it easy to deploy, it’s accessible and easy for everyone to use. This, in turn, empowers employees to be more aware of their online routines
Because password managers are the front line of defence critical to your overall security stack
"Why do we need a password manager if we have SSO?"
While Single Sign-On (SSO) is a popular way for businesses to centralise access control for critical applications, services and tools, SSO isn't necessarily enough to protect employee credentials and accounts.
Not all SaaS applications support SSO, which means organisations still have to manage access control through individual logins.
A password manager enables secure sharing across teams and functions.
The only way to ensure all your credentials are secured is to use SSO with a password manager.
"Why do we need a password manager if we have firewalls?"
Firewalls are critical to network security, often sitting at an organisation's network perimeter to prevent external threats, or within the network to guard against internal threats.
Firewalls inspect internet traffic coming in and out of an organisation's network and look for malicious traffic.
Because a significant proportion of data breaches involve issues with password and credential safety, password management is probably the most important network security safeguard.
Firewalls block malware by filtering data coming in and out of your system.
Password managers, on the other hand, can be integrated at every level of your architecture, not just at the perimeter.
"Why do we need a password manager if we have email security?"
Email is a top choice among attackers for launching phishing and ransomware.
Email security solutions include a blend of techniques to prevent attacks, such as URL analysis, source verification and authentication, fraud protection, malware detection in email attachments, and more.
Email security cannot protect against unauthorised access to an organisation's accounts and applications if a cybercriminal has access to login credentials.
A locked door is useless if a criminal has the key.
A password manager stores and secures these 'keys' (login credentials) using end-to-end encryption.
A password manager provides additional phishing protection by retaining known and confirmed URLs. It can show you whether a site visited is stored within the password manager by showing an icon in the browser bar. If an employee accidentally lands on a malicious site, the known login icon would not appear.
Because a password manager is critical to staying safe online
Widespread use of passwords without the proper tools causes weak password choices, password reuse, and insecure sharing of credentials.
Within organisations, the need for centralised and shared resources can be addressed with a password manager.
Cyberattacks can be minimised or prevented by proper use of password management.
Phishing attacks, for example, can be prevented with a password manager - a phishing scam might trick an employee into clicking on a malicious link, but it can’t trick a password manager.
A password manager is the only way for your employees to secure sensitive information with an end-to-end encrypted vault.
A password manager makes it easy for employees to generate and store unique passwords for all their work (and personal) accounts.
A password manager can show your IT security team whether there are weak and reused passwords that could be compromised.
A cybersecurity strategy that includes password management can minimise organisational risk from data theft, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats with substantial financial and reputational repercussions.
Why Use a Password Manager?
Because most companies suffer from unauthorised access via weak or stolen passwords
Because your employees need tools to help them practise better password habits
Because password managers are the front line of defence critical to the enterprise security stack
Because a password manager is critical to staying safe online
Password manager market landscape
Globally, password management is a $1.38 billion business, and with an ever-evolving and expanding cybersecurity risk landscape, it is expected to reach $5.86 billion over the next decade.
Worldwide, the market experienced a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8% from 2016-2020, intensified by increased remote working and personal online activities during pandemic lockdowns.
With ongoing hybrid working models, global reliance on website logins across industries, and continued growth in mobile apps and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, the market expects a CAGR of 14.2% through 2031.