Passwords Are Not Free! It’s Time To Go Passwordless

Irrespective of all their flaws and drawbacks, passwords have been around as a primal form of online authentication for several decades. They’ve become an integral part of every employee’s life since the beginning of the pandemic and the emergence of the “Work from home” culture. 

Accessing different applications for the work may require different authentication mechanisms depending on the complexity of the company's IT system.

It’s needless to say that companies and employees have been facing severe challenges on the password-management front. Password Overload has become common among corporate employees, resulting in them reusing passwords over multiple websites. This poses a huge threat to the organization as a single phishing attack may cost them valuable company information such as user data, trade secrets, employees' data etc.

What Are Password-Based Security Breaches Worth?

According to Forrester Research, the average help desk labour cost for a single password reset is upwards of $70! Another study conducted by Deloitte within their company revealed that around $2700 is being spent on the online security of each full-time professional every year! These statistics clearly show that a humongous proportion of company revenue is being spent on cybersecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic and work-from-home scenarios have made these figures scarier. According to IBM’s Cost Of Data Breach Report 2021, companies that have 81-100% remote employees face an average loss of $5.54 million per breach whereas companies with 10% work-from-home employees face an average loss of $3 million per breach.

Various Types of Security Breaches

Although password-based security attacks can vary in terms of complexity and cost, here are a few ways hackers leverage loopholes in technology to conduct successful security breaches-

1. Brute Force Attacks: Hackers leverage this technique to rig the system’s database and forcefully retrieve the user’s credential.
2. Phishing: Through phishing techniques, hackers impersonate a user’s personal contact and encourage them to click on one-time links provided by the hacker. Once the user clicks on this link, their credentials are infiltrated and their sensitive information is stolen by the hacker.
3. Credential Surfing: Through this technique, a complete database of potential credentials are tried and tested against the user’s account resulting in legitimate password matches.
4. Password Spraying: Password Spraying refers to a technique in which a hacker lists out the most commonly used passwords and their combinations. Password spraying is one of the most commonly used techniques by hackers and accounts for 16% of security breaches.

‍From The Perspective Of The Tech Team

Resetting passwords and protecting the online credentials of the employees can become a hectic affair for the IT department. HDI Survey clearly states that 30-50% of all IT help desk calls revolve around password resets. These resets can also be cumbersome for the IT department and can also become an additional expense for the company in terms of manpower and resources. 

The process of password resets come with its own set of challenges. Employees in big enterprises have to work with multiple passwords, making them prone to using weak and easily crackable passwords. Moreover, it's not uncommon for people to forget the answers to their security questions or lose access to the email or phone number associated with their accounts, making password resets even more tedious for IT employees.

Being in charge of the technical team, every single password reset, along with the expenses becomes the responsibility of the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the enterprise. Not only that, but the CTO is also liable if the company’s sensitive information gets leaked over a password breach. This is why IT departments at various corporates deal with password resets by putting in extra time and resources as a single breach can put their job security and reputation at stake. 

Removing passwords from the authentication equation will not only take a huge burden off the IT department but ensure that they can focus on larger corporate technical issues that require their attention and contribute towards the technical upliftment of the company without any hindrances.

The Solution - Passwordless Authentication Using Passkeys

SoundAuth is a new-age authentication product that helps companies effortlessly become a part of the passwordless bandwagon. Integrating passkeys into your business can be expensive in terms of expenses and resources. The endless trial-and-error, code bugs, and other technical drawbacks can seem daunting to developers. SoundAuth’s no code/low code API and easy integration solution helps companies switch to the passwordless future within minutes! SoundAuth ensures complete user security and helps companies stand out among their competitors by catering to the diverse requirements of their user base. 

To learn more about SoundAuth and how your company can save a lot through the easy integration of Passkeys, reach out to us at contact@trillbit.com

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