May 4 is World Password Day

World Password Day is May 4th. It is a day tech giant Intel established to create awareness about the importance of stronger passwords. Finally, an excuse to update our passwords from "password123" to "password124."

This day serves as an important reminder to take our password security seriously. According to Verizon who studied 868 security breaches, the vast majority (four in five) of these were linked to passwords in some way; they either involved brute force attacks or the use of stolen or lost credentials. This highlights the importance of using strong and unique passwords, and changing them frequently, as well as implementing additional security measures to help protect against ransomware and other types of cybercrime.

From a business perspective, relying solely on passwords to protect critical data is an especially risky proposition. The next step must be to employ data governance policies that designate what constitutes critical data that must be protected.

However, even with these policies in place, protecting data that you cannot find is impossible. Businesses need a technology solution that enables them to locate and organize all critical data, and then take appropriate action to secure it. This may involve creating an immutable copy, moving it to a more secure environment, creating a "golden copy," and/or transferring the data to a storage solution that can be air-gapped for even greater protection from online threats. This tailored approach is much smarter than relying on broad security measures that may not be effective in all situations.

To sum it up, combining strong passwords with data governance policies and a technology solution to enforce those policies is an unbeatable approach to data protection and security. In doing so, businesses can safeguard their sensitive information – especially from the growing threat of cyber-attacks, consequently enabling them to comply with regulations, as well as protect their intellectual property, reputation, and bottom line.”

Don Boxley, CEO and Co-Founder, DH2i (www.dh2i.com):

“World Password Day is a day to acknowledge the pivotal role that passwords play in our digital lives. It is also a day that reminds us how prevalent cybercrime has become, and while creating strong and unique passwords and regularly changing them is critical, passwords must be considered a first-line, not the only-line, of defense.

Historically, VPNs were considered a reliable line of defense against cyber threats, but their popularity is rapidly declining due to their limitations in terms of security, slow connection speeds, bandwidth constraints, configuration and management complexity, and high cost. On the other hand, Software-Defined Perimeters (SDP) are gaining popularity as a safer and more efficient alternative. Advanced implementations of SDP allow users to establish direct connections with application-level Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) tunnels, eliminating the involvement of third-party vendors in the data stream. With SDP, users have direct access to the data endpoints they need, without any intermediaries. In comparison to VPNs, only SDP can prevent lateral network attacks, enhance data transfer rates by up to 3x, and offer complete control over the data stream.

Bottom-line, bullet-proof passwords combined with SDP provide unparalleled security to eliminate cyber threats. Passwords act as the first line of defense, while SDP's advanced security features ensure only authorized users access the network and data endpoints, reducing the risk of cyberattacks, data breaches, and lateral network attacks on World Password Day, and all year round.”