Passportal Site Blog 2 - SolarWinds MSP



Passportal Site Blog 2NOTE: This blog is written for you to post to your own website blog. To avoid the potential confusion of multiple MSPs presenting this as original content of their own, we’ve written an introduction which you can customize, that sets up the series and make it clear that someone could find the same blog online and not think it’s plagiarized.All content is meant to be copied and pasted. All items in BLUE, or highlighted in blue, are for your reference only. Any items highlighted in yellow, you’ll need to customize. Feel free to tweak any of the following provided material to fit better with your business goals. [INTRO][I’m/We’re] continuing to explore the topic of passwords and how they help keep your business data and systems secure in this next blog on when (and how) you should update your passwords.[ALTERNATE HEADLINES]You change your clothes. You change your oil. Make sure you also change your passwords.Stay a step ahead of hackers by changing your passwordsWhat’s the best way to change your passwords? Often, and with best practices in tips for changing your passwords[BLOG COPY]An alert pops up on your computer: It’s time to change your password again. Sigh. Fine. You’ll just change from password4! to password5! and— Not so fast.Regular password changes are meant to make sure that even if someone gets your login credentials, they won’t be able to use them forever. But if you just make a tiny change or add a digit to a sequence, it’s easy for a hacker with the old password to crack the new one using a “brute force” attack.So what’s the best way to keep your passwords strong? Here are some tips:1. Establish a company “password refresh” policy.No matter how big or small your business is, make sure you have a policy for setting and refreshing passwords. For example, don’t allow people to use basic dictionary words. Don’t allow identical strings of characters from previous passwords. And make every password unique—i.e., not one that somebody’s used for a different system. Educate your team about good “password hygiene” and how weak changes or reusing passwords can put both your organization and your users’ personal accounts at risk.2. Change your passwords regularly.How often you should change your passwords depends on how critical a system is. Passwords for accounts with administrative privileges (ones that let users make system or account changes) should be updated more often than others because unauthorized access to admin accounts can be so much more devastating. We suggest changing them every 90 days. Passwords for less critical systems can go a little longer, but should still be changed every 180 days.But be aware: those timeframes apply if you have a password management system that automatically generates strong passwords. If you’re relying on users to choose their own passwords, you should require more frequent changes. That said, a password management system is a great idea. It will let you set expiry dates for passwords so users are prompted to change them before they can re-access a system. Even with auto-expiries, tell your users they don’t have to—and in some cases, shouldn’t—wait for the scheduled expiry date to change their passwords. The fresher, the better!3. Change passwords immediately if they’re shared or breached.While the rule should be “don't share passwords”, if you absolutely have to share one, change it as soon as the other user is done. Even if they’re well-meaning, they could have noted it somewhere visible or stored it in an unsecured location, leaving it vulnerable to malicious players. And of course, in cases of a known or suspected breach, change any affected passwords right away.By following those three principles—set a policy, change passwords regularly, and change any password that’s shared or breached—you’ll go a long way toward keeping your information safe.[MSP CUSTOMIZED WRAP-UP]If you’d like to learn more about how to manage your passwords, let us know. Next time, we’ll explain how to make sure you know who has access to your systems, and why it matters.Email for Blog 2[SUBJECT LINE OPTIONS:]How often should you change your password?Why password updates matter a lotKeep your business safe with a password update policy[ALTERNATE HEADLINES]Password changes keep the bad guys guessingChange your passwords often — and keep them strongDon’t just update your passwords — reinvent them[EMAIL COPY]Regular password changes help keep your company data safe. But how safe depends on how strong each new password is.In our latest blog, we look at best practices for keeping your company passwords fresh, how often to change them, and what kinds of changes could actually undermine good security practices.[LINK THIS TO THE BLOG – hyperlink the section in yellow.]Read our blog post.Social Media Posts for Blog 2[FACEBOOK/LINKEDIN]How important is it to change passwords regularly?The short answer is “very”. At a minimum, you should change your passwords at least a few times a year. But just as important is making sure your new passwords are as strong—or stronger—than the old ones. Cutting corners with simple, weak password updates can leave you vulnerable. Find out how to maximize the effectiveness of your password update policy.[TWITTER]Does changing your passwords regularly really keep your information safer? Yes. But there’s more to making them truly safe. Find out how—and when—to refresh your passwords the right way. 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