A Staffing Employee No-No: Saving Passwords in Browsers

December 22, 2022

It can be tempting for staffing industry employees to save their passwords in a browser at work. Team members usually must log in to systems multiple times daily, change their passwords often and meet specific character requirements that are easy to forget. Allowing a browser to save this information makes logging in more straightforward. However, doing so poses a risk to your client's business.

The Dangers of Saving Passwords in the Staffing Sector

Your client’s company must have strict guidelines and procedures regarding employee password management. When people store passwords in a browser, the database is much less secure than they think. If cybercriminals hacked into one of their computers through malware, phishing, or another method, they could gain access to all the saved login information. Armed with passwords, they can then obtain private business data.

Why Saving Passwords is Browsers Is a Bad Idea

The default password manager features of browsers do not adequately protect the stored information. Although they utilize encrypted databases, browsers do not safeguard encryption keys. If employees save work passwords in a browser, your client faces a significant security threat. A breach can expose customer, vendor, and internal business data.

The Effects of Saving Your Password to Your Browser as an Employee

Owners and managers must understand that employee usernames and passwords are crucial data types. It can be easy to think they are not as critical as a company's internal records. However, since they provide access to data systems, reports, and other vital information, businesses must keep them secure. Storing credentials in a browser makes all of a company's devices vulnerable, potentially exposing information such as:

• Internal business emails
• Correspondence with clients
• Personal staffing or customer data
• Corporate account data
• Digital infrastructure
• Intellectual property

How To Protect a Staffing Company

Let owners know how to safeguard a team's login information by addressing potential security issues. They should mandate strong employee passwords with multifactor authentication requirements and provide staff with a highly encrypted password manager system. Businesses can also utilize a data breach monitoring service that alerts them to security concerns.

Help companies manage their risk by offering a cyber insurance policy to cover a company's liability when hackers access sensitive client data, like account numbers, driver’s license information, and Social Security numbers. This coverage can provide resources to contain and resolve a breach quickly. Owners can add another layer of security by investing in access-management technology to prevent employees from gaining entry to unauthorized information.

When you explain to staffing clients why saving passwords on a browser is not the best practice as an employee, you can help them prevent cyberattacks. Browser password managers are not secure and leave businesses open to many hazards that can have costly and devastating effects. ◼