Benefits of Using an Enterprise Password Manager for SaaS Security

What Is an Enterprise Password Manager?

Your employees may be using dozens of SaaS accounts at any given time. While SaaS applications can be great tools for growing your business, they also pose a risk, especially when staff members have poor password hygiene. Humans are creatures of habit, and far too often, employees use weak or duplicate passwords. They may store login information on shared documents or in conspicuous locations, such as a sticky note taped to a monitor.

Security teams are usually able to secure the core SaaS apps using a single sign on product or an identity provider. The problem is that employees use many more SaaS non-core apps and use passwords they create manually. Humans being humans, they are most likely creating passwords that are convenient rather than creating them with a security-first mindset. This creates unmanaged risk because these SaaS apps often have confidential or sensitive data that could devastate companies if stolen. 

Also consider, if an employee’s personal account password were stolen, the hacker could then use that password to login into their business account as well. Fortunately, an enterprise password manager can reduce SaaS security risks and attacks. This tool generates unique passwords, stores credentials for SaaS accounts, and controls access to password information.

Enterprise SaaS Password Management

Enterprise password management tools enhance your SaaS security protocols by helping employees keep their identities secure. Without a central tool for password management, individual employees are responsible for creating usernames and passwords for each SaaS application they use.

Even if you take the time to teach best practices, ensuring that each employee creates strong passwords and stores their login information in a safe place is impossible. Enterprise SaaS password management takes this burden off your staff and safeguards your organization.

The Security Risks for Bad Password Management

Bad password management leaves your enterprise vulnerable to security breaches and puts your internal data at risk. Poor security practices include:

• Duplicate passwords: Employees should not use the same password for more than one SaaS account.
• Breached passwords: Employees should not reuse a password after an account has been breached.
• Weak passwords: Passwords that are easy to guess are especially vulnerable to brute force attacks.
• Personal accounts: If an employee uses the same SaaS account for both personal and work-related use, hackers can leverage an attack on their credentials to gain entry into the enterprise.
• Shared passwords: If multiple employees share credentials for a SaaS service and one individual leaves the organization, they may still have access to the application. And shared logins may be stored in unsecured locations – one survey found 46% of IT leaders were storing passwords in shared documents.

Because just one employee’s poor password hygiene can ultimately negatively affect the whole organization, effective password management is critical for reducing your company’s risk exposure.

How Does an Enterprise Password Manager Work?

An enterprise password manager stores user credentials in a secure database. Password data is encrypted to protect it from breaches. The password management tool also has built-in password creation functionality, so it can randomly generate strong passwords as needed. This eliminates weak, user-generated passwords and prevents employees from using the same password more than once.

Some password managers also automate password rotation. This saves employees time – they don’t have to manually update their different SaaS application passwords – while adding another layer of security.

What Are the Benefits of Using an Enterprise Password Manager?

A SaaS security password management solution can offer long-term benefits for your company. Advantages include:

• Centralized control: An enterprise password manager means all company credentials are stored in one place and controlled by your IT team.
• Reduced risk: By securely storing usernames and passwords, enterprise password management can help eliminate data breaches that leave your company vulnerable.
• Strengthens passwords: Enterprise password management eliminates weak passwords that bad actors can hack.
• Protection against phishing: Password managers can discern between legitimate websites and phishing scams.
• Transparency: When you use an enterprise password manager, you have complete visibility into all the SaaS apps being used by your employees, so you’re better able to identify and address any threats.

Remove SaaS Credential and Access Risk with Grip

You can’t eliminate SaaS applications from your business – but you can use them more carefully. A SaaS password manager enterprise solution like Grip Access updates your security architecture to provide one-click, password-less access to all your SaaS services. Grip Access performs continuous discovery and validation to detect any shadow SaaS applications outside your single sign-on policy and identify security gaps.

Choose an Effective SaaS Password Manager

If you’re looking to revise your password policy for SaaS compliance, Grip Access can help. Grip also offers a no-obligation SaaS security risk assessment to help companies understand their risk profile. Request a personalized demo today to learn more about the biggest advancement in password managers.