The Benefits of Security-as-a Service, and Why You Should Consider It for Your Business.

• A 2017 Verizon study revealed that 81% of all data breaches are due to lost, stolen or hacked passwords. User error is an important factor where this is concerned.
• One in four businesses will experience a data breach in the next 24 months costing $1.6 Million. Every business is at risk, not just large ones.
• Even local SMBs in the Raleigh area have been victims of a brute force password attack in the past 6 months. They experienced days of downtime, extreme stress, and huge costs for restoration of their data.

What should you do?  First ask yourself these questions:

• Does your business have critical applications that contain sensitive data that need to be properly protected?
• Do your employees have multiple passwords to gain access to different applications or digital resources?
• Is it possible that your employees share passwords?
• Is it possible that a single employee could lose a password or have it stolen?
• Is it possible, based on your current security measures, that someone without authorization could gain access to a core business application?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then it’s time to enhance your security measures.  The keyword here is “measures.” No one security solution is enough to prevent hackers and data breaches.  You must employ a layered protection.

Small to Mid-Sized Businesses (SMBs) Struggle with Password Management Issues.

• Employees need to remember multiple passwords for several core applications.
• Employees are lazy about password hygiene.
• Employees generally ignore password management best practices.
• Employees lose productivity due to the time they spend entering passwords all day (every day).
• Forty to Fifty percent of help-desk tickets are related to password management.

Password issues create security holes while costing significant time, money and potential loss of business. Plus, despite the importance of using strong (and long) passwords, employees often fail to follow best- practice guidelines in this regard. Today’s cybercriminals can use brute-force cracking software and hardware, with dictionary-based algorithms to decode short passwords in a matter of seconds.

So, How Do You Protect Yourself?

Believe it or not, there’s an easy answer.  It’s called Security-as-a Service. It combines Two-Factor Authentication with a Single Sign-On solution.

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

You enter a password and if it’s correct you gain access to prove you are who you say you are. Two-factor authentication works with two separate validation processes. Typically, one is a physical validation and the other is a code. Both must be validated before accessing a secured service.   Most people provide their smartphone number to receive the code.  Once you receive it, you key it into the site/service you want to gain access to.

Single Sign-On

People have so many passwords these days.  Single Sign-On is a service that permits you and your employees to use one set of login credentials to access multiple applications. On the back end, it’s helpful for logging your employees’ activities and monitoring user accounts.

The Benefits of Security-as-a Service

• It’s simple because it delivers intuitive user experiences with smartphone-based 2-Factor Authentication that grants access to the resources needed for the day with a single login.
• It’s seamless because it integrates with your mission-critical systems to deliver security and convenience with minimal disruption to your workflows.
• It’s secure as it provides the security and regulatory benefits of 2-factor Authentication, essentially eliminating the risk of a data breach due to stolen credentials.

Don’t wait until your business in or around Raleigh gets hit with a costly data breach. For a demonstration or more information about our Security-as-a-Service, contact Stephen Riddick, VP of Sales and Marketing at: 919-424-2019 or sriddick@cspinc.com