Password Managers and MFA for Better Password Quality and Cybersecurity

Most passwords have flaws. Although passwords are here to stay and important to online safety, there are certain tools you can use to reduce your risk of getting hacked. At Hikvision, we pride ourselves in providing our customers with the best information about cybersecurity. In this blog, we discuss password managers and multi-factor authentication to reduce your risk and boost your cybersecurity.

A recent Security magazine article reviews three qualities of a great password authentication mechanism: strength, uniqueness, and ease of use. These qualities are unfortunately limited by human capacity and error. We can only remember so many unique characters and so many logins for websites/applications. These human limitations put constraints on password strengths and uniqueness. In today’s world of phishing, keylogging, or data exfiltration, most passwords are easy to crack.

Password flaws can be corrected by the use of password managers. A password manager is a software tool that is used to store your passwords in encrypted files. You have easy access to them and nobody else does. Most modern password managers have additional features like cloud storage, auto-filing fields, and password generators to make stronger password selections. Password managers are installed on your computer and/or mobile device, so you never need to know, see, or type any of them.

There are generally four factors of authentication that are available today. They include:

Something you have: A number generator like Google Authenticator
Something you know: Password or passkey
Something you are: Biometrics such as fingerprint authentication
Where you are: GPA locations tracked by phone or IP address

Using multi-factor authentication (MFA) also adds two or more pieces of verifiable evidence or factors to the authentication process. This reduces security concerns by lowering the chances that an account can be hacked.

To learn more about password managers or MFA, visit our online cybersecurity center.

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Password Managers and MFA for Better Password Quality and Cybersecurity

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