Enterprise users still relying on weak passwords

Despite moves towards other methods of verification, most enterprises are still using passwords to secure their systems.

But based on results from its password assessment tool Preempt Inspector, behavioral firewall company Preempt shows that many enterprise users are still relying on compromised or poor quality passwords.

The findings show that 7.34 percent of users have very weak passwords that have appeared in previous security breaches such as those of public cloud services. In addition 13.9 percent of users share passwords with others. Password quality issues beset 19.1 percent, meaning that there's the potential for around one in five enterprise passwords to be easily compromised.

Bigger organizations tend to have better security postures, since they have the resources to educate users and enforce strict password complexity requirements. The findings also show that US enterprises have half the percentage of weak passwords compared to those in other parts of the world.

Writing on the company's blog, Yaron Ziner senior researcher at Preempt says, "As cyber threats become more sophisticated, organizations need to take a proactive approach in securing their network. Oftentimes, small and medium organizations suffer the most from the cybersecurity skills gap, and therefore need easy tools to efficiently evaluate their cyber posture and readiness to face outside cyber threats."

More information about the results is available on the Preempt blog and you can download the free Preempt Inspector app to assess your own company's password health.

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