What Is Password Vaulting and What Are Its Benefits?
Today’s enterprises are constantly bombarded with cyber threats and vulnerabilities, which makes it even more challenging for the IT team to safeguard confidential user data.
Password vaults are a highly effective solution that can help mitigate such risks.
In this article, you will learn what password vaulting is and what are its benefits. Also, you will know how you can implement password vaulting in your organization.
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What is Password Vaulting?
A password vault is a centralized repository of user passwords that allows users to access multiple applications without remembering the passwords for each one.
A password vault stores the user credentials such as usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information, so users can easily retrieve them when they need to log in to an application, website, or service.
The vault can be managed by the IT team or by a third-party service that can enforce security and compliance policies.
Some password vaults allow users to store their authentication details (username, password, and other sensitive information) and use the vault to log into their computer systems or applications.
Why use Password Vaulting?
Password vaults can help organizations address the following challenges:
- Worry-free user password management.
The number of logins and passwords users must remember has increased dramatically in recent years, with the average person having more than 100 accounts. Due to this, many users resort to writing their passwords down on paper or storing them in a text file on their computer, making them vulnerable to hacking attacks. Password vaults alleviate this problem by allowing users to store their passwords in a secure, central location.
- Strengthened security and compliance.
The vast majority of today’s organizations are regulated and comply with various industry standards, such as PCI DSS, SOX, and HIPAA. Password vaults can assist organizations in meeting such compliance requirements by providing auditable controls and ensuring that all user credentials are stored in an encrypted format.
- Easier collaboration and reduced IT workload.
Password vaults enable organizations to implement single sign-on (SSO) and share user credentials across the organization without compromising security. They can also enable users to reset forgotten passwords without contacting the IT team.
- Improved user experience.
Password vaults help users access their work applications quickly and securely without remembering all of their login credentials.
Although password vaults make it easier for organizations to manage user passwords, they also introduce some limitations:
- Additional security risk.
Password vaults are designed to store users’ login credentials in an encrypted format. Yet, if you choose to store the credentials on the organization’s network, you must secure them with strong authentication.
- Increased cost.
From a budgetary standpoint, password vaults require you to spend money on purchasing the solution. If you do not use any SAAS solution, you will also need resources for maintenance and support.
- Potential risk to data privacy and ownership.
When choosing a password vault vendor, you must be certain that the vendor’s solution meets your security and compliance requirements. Otherwise, you risk compromising your data privacy and ownership.
How to Implement Password Vaulting?
Password vaults are usually offered as a cloud-based service by a third-party vendor.
Depending on the vendor, users can either store their credentials in the cloud or upload them to an application installed on their computer.
To get the most out of a password vault, you should choose an advanced, enterprise-grade solution that provides a comprehensive set of security and compliance capabilities.
Such a solution should allow you to enforce the following protocols:
- The requirement to change passwords regularly,
- Limitation on the number of login attempts per user,
- Limitation on the length of user passwords,
- Limitation on the mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as special characters,
- Limitation on the use of public Wi-Fi networks for logging in.
Key takeaways
Password vaults allow users to store their login credentials in a centralized location so they can easily access them when needed.
These solutions also allow organizations to enforce strict security and compliance policies, as well as improve their users’ experience and collaboration across the organization.
At the same time, password vaults introduce additional security risks, as well as increased cost, and potential risks to data privacy and ownership.
Overall, password vaults are a great solution that can help organizations protect their users’ credentials and improve the overall security of their systems and applications.
