Customer Password Security — How to Address the Increasing Threat?

The modern digital landscape has provided numerous business opportunities to enterprises embarking on a digital transformation journey but has eventually increased the risks of customer password security.

With attackers finding new ways to exploit customer information by bypassing frail layers of authentication, businesses are now facing more challenges securing customer identities than ever before.

Moreover, stats reveal that account takeover incidents increased by 20% in 2020 alone. And the numbers are expected to surge further.

Enterprises face various cyber risks, ranging from data breaches to ransomware threats. However, cybercriminals always choose the path of least resistance, and password-based authentication makes their work a lot easier since it’s the weakest form of authentication.

Although CISOs and IT experts are working hard to address various threat factors, specific workforce and user awareness challenges still linger.

Let’s understand how information security experts can address the growing password security challenges to mitigate the risks.

Why Password-Based Authentication isn’t a Good Idea from a Usability and Security Perspective?

The password-based authentication was the best solution to protect systems and data back in the 20th century. However, things have changed drastically since the number of devices and interconnected systems has surged over the past decades.

We can’t say that password-based authentication is completely obsolete; its scope is limited to areas where the cybersecurity threat is minimum.

In a nutshell, today’s digital landscape demands stringent levels of authentication mechanisms that are hard to bypass. Even if one authentication mechanism fails, the other is ready to protect consumer information and sensitive business data.

Apart from the security perspective, the primary issue in password-based authentication is usability. Users find it annoying to enter and remember passwords for different accounts.

On the other hand, modern authentication mechanisms, including passwordless authentication, social login, and biometric authentication, are way ahead of password-based authentication since they offer a seamless user experience and stringent layers of security.

Hence, businesses that strive to stay ahead of their competitors shouldn’t ignore that the aforementioned authentication mechanisms are swiftly becoming the need of the hour.

Why is Passwordless Authentication the Ultimate Solution?

When we talk about the biggest threat to businesses, dealing with account takeover due to compromised passwords remains on the top of the list.

Businesses need to understand the risks of password-based authentication, including phishing, brute force attacks, and account takeover.

Apart from this, businesses may face legal consequences if their users’ personal information is compromised because of a weak authentication mechanism. Global data privacy and security compliances like the CCPA and GDPR are becoming more stringent.

Hence, passwordless authentication becomes the need of the hour as it offers endless benefits concerning security, privacy, and usability.

Some significant benefits of incorporating a passwordless authentication mechanism include:

• Enhanced customer experience: Since businesses can’t afford to lose a single user because of a bad user experience on their platform, passwordless authentication could help pave the way for an enhanced customer experience. Passwordless authentication through magic links
• Robust security: Security is one of the major benefits of incorporating a passwordless authentication mechanism. Statistics reveal that the passwordless authentication market was valued at 12.8 Billion USD back in 2021 and is expected to surge to 53 Billion USD by 2030 because of robust security.
• Increased cost-effectiveness: Passwords require frequent maintenance, which can be a big concern for enterprises. As per a report by Forrester, the average cost of one password reset for an enterprise is $70. And for big brands, this figure reaches around USD 1 million each year.
• Better visibility and control: Since IT teams have to watch password resets, reuse, and password sharing activities, going passwordless eliminates the need. Hence, IT can reclaim its actual purpose of having complete visibility and control over identity and access management for better information security.

In Conclusion

The increasing number of cyber threats focusing on account takeovers by attacking user passwords is undeniably a major threat for enterprises collecting user information online.

Businesses relying on conventional password-based authentication should put their best foot forward to adopt a more reliable and secure form of authentication to meet global data privacy and security compliances and maintain consumer trust.

Passwordless authentication helps improve overall security and provides a rich consumer experience since users need not remember long passwords for their accounts.

In a nutshell, going passwordless helps enterprises deliver great user experiences and eventually helps them increase their consumer information security.