If you’re like most people the keys to your business are stored online. Bank accounts, employee details, supplier contracts, vehicle information and so much more. If you’re still like most people the passwords that protect these records are OK at best. In fact according to TeleSign 73% of adults use the ONE password for multiple websites and 47% of people use passwords that are at least 5yrs old!

I get it. Remembering passwords is hard.

You may as well use the one password for everything and just make sure its pretty hard to guess. Right?

Wrong!

Your passwords (at the very least) should be:

  • at least 8 characters long, but 12-15 is better
  • a mixture of UPPER, lower case letters, numbers (123) and symbols (@#$)
  • unique to every website/webservice that you use.

According to a recent survey by Intel Security the average person has 27 discrete online logins (sites that require passwords) and many of us have LOTS more.

This is where a password manager comes in. At Regional Business Toolkit we use and promote LastPass, a robust password manager with great sharing/delegating features.

Check the video below for a bigger run down on the benefits of LastPass or read on for some simple steps to implement LastPass in your business.

How to Implement this Tip

  1. Head to LastPass.com and sign up for an enterprise account (it’ll set you back $24/yr and it’s money well spent). You’ll need to create an account which is quite straight forward.
  2. Create a master password. This is the only password you’ll need to remember. Make it tough, but memorable. A password phrase is a great idea.
  3. Load all your passwords into LastPass. In simple terms you’ll fill in a simple form for each site containing the website URL, your username and your password. This is a great prompt to update your password for each website to something unique, and secure.
  4. Install the LastPass client onto your computer. This is a small piece of software that remembers all your encrypted passwords. Each time you visit a website (eg, ANZ.com.au) LastPass will automatically copy your username and encrypted password into the website… effectively remembering your secure password for you.

Examples of Use

A real-world example:

“A construction company based in a regional town uses LastPass to share passwords for all their merchant accounts with contracted building supervisors. This means that all construction materials are purchased on the appropriate discount reducing costs, creates a simple way for the building supervisor to have access to a range of merchant account passwords, and makes it simple for the company to remove access at the end of the job.”