How to evaluate a password manager? Is it the right fit?

In 2021 the world witnessed the highest average cost of a data breach. Compared with the previous year, the price of cybercrime grew from $3.86 million to $4.24 million.

The most common reason behind successful data breaches was compromised credentials – poorly managed emails, usernames, and passwords.

Consequently, introducing a single tool – a reliable password manager – can substantially improve your business security.

How to evaluate a password manager before purchasing it, what criteria to consider? What makes the tool suitable for your organization?

How to evaluate a password manager : top 5 criteria

Before purchasing, make sure to evaluate a password manager. Pay attention to these top criteria necessary for any reliable, trustworthy password management solution.

Here’s what features and implementations you should look for:

Heightened security features

• Encryption

First, reliable security features are critically important for providing maximum protection of your business data. Choosing a password manager that implements military-grade encryption is essential.

The most reliable password managers in the market use AES-256 symmetric and RSA-4096 asymmetric encryption algorithms. They are accepted as the most effective data encryption methods.

• Zero-knowledge

Make sure to evaluate a password manager from the privacy perspective. Zero-knowledge proof ensures that no one can access your stored data or your Master password. This applies to all outside actors (as cybercriminals) and even the tool’s developers.

This feature is critically important because it makes even the accidental data reveal impossible. Your sensitive data should never leave your device in plain text. Nobody should access your data without your approval. Zero-knowledge is the implementation to look for.

Features for smooth work

The tool should also offer features to facilitate daily tasks and make secure data management easy. Two vital ones for smooth work: autosave and autofill.

The automated features should assist your employees in creating strong, unique passwords for each account. The tool should automatically save and fill in the login information. Such a feature helps to build good data management habits effortlessly.

Features for safe collaboration

Many compromises are usually made when sharing sensitive information. For instance, a client’s password is sent via email or messaging app, the team stores all work-related passwords in an Excel sheet. Such data-sharing practices increase the chance of exposed, leaked, or without authorization accessed passwords.

Therefore, evaluate a password manager and see if it provides safe password-sharing features. Ideally, the tool should present different implementations for sharing data with full-time team members and single-time external clients.

Uninterrupted access

People use desktop and mobile simultaneously. In most cases, PCs at home and in the workplace differ. Ensure that the password management solution provides automatic sync and seamless access on all devices. Any change in the vault should immediately update across all devices.

Ideally, the solution should also support Two-factor authentication on mobile and desktop. These two features will guarantee immediate yet highly secure access wherever the employee is.

Global recognition and validation

Last, find out some reviews, articles, or other proof of validation. Read the reviews on multiple platforms what other users have to say about the tool.

Most importantly, check if there are any proofs that the tool was recognized and validated worldwide (especially by globally-known players such as Google.) Focus on security magazines, academic research, or other industry-leading sources.

Do your research. Evaluate a password manager before choosing one. Select the tool that checks all the boxes. All these criteria are mandatory for your increased business protection.

If you are still researching the options or you need the perfectly-fit solution right away, make sure to check PassCamp. This password manager is an innovative, globally recognized tool that meets all criteria for security-focused business needs.