Security Can Also be Convenient
As a cyber security consultant, we understand how keeping a strong cyber security posture can be exhausting, or even daunting for beginners. Having to remember countless passwords to avoid reuse, being weary of every network you use to access the internet, worrying about the integrity of your devices, and who might have unauthorized access to your data. This is a lot to think about, and keep up with, believe me we understand.
Because of the seemingly excessive effort that is require to remain secure in the digital world we live in, too many people have become complacent with their security practices, resulting in growing breaches and compromises. To some, it might even seem like the security community is making it even harder to stay secure.
For those people struggling, this article is for you.
Today, there are a handful of very clever products and technologies that can alleviate much of the burden carried by consumers and businesses in keeping their data secure. Let's look at 3 of the best solutions, for 3 of the biggest problems that we all face.
Biometric Authentication
Biometric authentication is the ability to use biological markers such as a fingerprint, retina map, and unique facial structuring to provide identification for access to a service, device or location. Now a widely available technology, it can be used on smartphones, PCs, and really anything else that requires controlled access. Biometrics allow for safe authentication without the need for passwords. However a combination of the two, can provide incredibly strong security.
At ZCS we strongly recommend enabling biometric authentication for smartphones, which vastly improves ease of access. A backup password will still be required but once you have biometrics enabled, that password could very well be one of the last you'll need to remember if you make use of the next solution we will discuss. Biometric Authentication is also an option for use on your laptops and desktop PCs. You can make use of your web camera for face recognition or a fingerprint reader with Windows Hello, If your laptop includes these. For desktops, we recommend this affordable USB fingerprint reader that installs with USB.
Password Managers
It is our belief that absolutely everybody should have a password manager, and if you don't, now is the time. You will be amazed at how much easier it will make your life. Password managers allow you to simply forget all the passwords for everything. Password managers store passwords and other credentials locally or in the cloud, to allow you to have a secure collection of all your passwords and accounts on any device, anywhere.Password managers are invaluable to business owners with many subscribed accounts and services, and most are available for very little cost, If not completely free. If you are not already using one, we implore you check out NordPass. This highly polished password manager is available on just about every device and operating system, and gets a perfect thumbs up from us.
For lovers of open-source solutions and enterprises, we also have to recommend Bitwarden. We use it here at ZCS Systems and we absolutely love it. It might not be as polished as NordPass, but for the cost, feature-set and compatibility, it remains at the top of our list. Keep posted for another article on Bitwarden as they are working on some really interesting things.
SSO (Single Sign-On)
SSO is a real modern solution for access management and it has many benefits for an organization. SSO allows for a user to sign into many different and separate applications and services with a single ID and password. This process streamlines credential tracking for IT departments, simplifies authentication for end-users as they only need to remember 1 ID and password, and allows for improved security. SSO can be implemented for many use cases. If you're interested in hiring us to set up SSO for your business, contact us today.