Passwords Are Far from Dead: The Increasing Need for SSO

Rumors of the death of the password have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, passwords have become more important than ever with the proliferation of remote workers and today’s digital workforce. Despite predictions about biometrics, token-based encryption, and other authentication strategies, using secure passwords will be the most common means of protecting digital assets.

What does have to change is users’ cavalier approach to password security. Continuing to use one password for everything or using your birthday or mother’s maiden name for authentication is just asking for hackers to steal sensitive data. You can’t change user behavior, but you can make password access more secure. Secure single sign-on solutions like Avatier SSO help organizations add security to password authentication.

We thought it would be interesting to learn more about password trends and the need for added security layers like SSO and identity management. We did some research and created an infographic that illustrates why passwords are here to stay. Here are some of the highlights from our infographic, Cyber Security Starts with Password Management: Solving the Password Problem:

Password Use is Booming

There are now more than 4.66 billion internet users (more than 59.5% of the world population), and more than 300 billion passwords need to be protected, up from 80 billion in 2017. 

The average user has to keep track of more than 100 passwords. 

According to the Ponemon Institute:

• More than half of workers rely on memory to save passwords.
• One-quarter of users save passwords in a spreadsheet and another 26% use a notebook or sticky notes
• Workers spend nearly 11 hours each year entering and resetting passwords.

Passwords will continue to be used, and they will continue to pose a security problem and affect productivity without the right password management system.

IT Needs Password Management Tools

Lack of efficient password management is affecting IT productivity as well. 

According to Gartner, 25% to 50% of help desk calls are related to password resets, and password issues can take up to 30 minutes to fix. Organizations lose an average of $200,000 per year to password issues.

Inefficient password management is also the root of most security problems. The global cost of data breaches to date in 2021 is $6 trillion, up from $3 trillion in 2015. With more employees working from home, the number of corporate data breaches has increased 20%, and remote works have increased the average cost of a data breach by $137,000.

At the same time, 18% of companies say security is not a priority for companies while 28% say that employees using personal devices create new threat opportunities.

Deploying single sign-on security can solve many of these issues and make any enterprise more secure. For example, Avatier SSO provides a secure cloud solution that takes advantage of native directories to manage application access. Avatier SSO offers several advantages, including:

• Cost savings of as much as 30% by revealing unused SaaS licenses
• Increased security by automatically enabling accounts based on roles
• Password synchronization so credentials are always current
• Complies with the leading security standards
• Increases productivity with automatic login and logoff

Check out our new infographic to see the market trends in password security and contact us about Avatier SSO to learn how we can secure passwords for your enterprise.