Well, the truth is that many organizations are just not enforcing the basics of Password Best Policies (PBP), never mind investing and enforcing stronger identity security. With much emphasis on ROI, the truth is IT Security Professionals make the dangerous decision to purchase the minimal authentication solution just to have “something” in place. And the truth about Llamas is never tick-off a Llama; they spit when provoked or threatened!

Passwords are precious things and have lost their importance in the eyes of the public. According to Teri Robison’s article, Study: Security pros still grappling with lax password policies, on SC magazine, “respondents to Lieberman Software’s ‘2014 Information Security Survey’ saying that they can still access systems at a previous place of employment by using old credentials. Disturbingly, in some cases, the report found, they can even access the systems of two or more employers.” A good place to start would be PBP, but sadly, Robison states that the 2014 Information Security Survey reports “quite a few respondents — nearly one in four — say their organizations don’t change their service and process account passwords within 90 days, which is recommended by most mandatory regulations.” This is staggering, and I believe there is a Llama spitting somewhere right now.

Also in the article, Robison quotes Lieberman stating, “’it’s astonishingly common’ in corporate and government networks for the administrator passwords . . . ‘to be shared across multiple systems, remain unchanged for extended periods of time, and be used without any access control or audit records.’” It goes without saying this is an unacceptable policy . . . anywhere!

With all the breaches in security you would think the lesson would be learned indirectly and companies would prioritize authentication security . But truth be told, Robison also quotes Lieberman stating, “a breach ups interest in investing in security, but not for long . . . with a ‘half-life mentality’ companies loosen the purse strings in the wake of a data breach, ‘diminishing back to basic security after a few months,’” a sad truth to be sure.

In closing, it is a no brainer that Passwords must be stronger and PBP awareness shared, IT Security Professionals must invest in a solution that increases ROI, and stronger security means commitment!

So go ahead! Invest . . . the Llamas won’t mind.

Source:

http://www.scmagazine.com/study-security-pros-still-grappling-with-lax-password-policies/article/348888/2/