20 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Password Management Solution

With the cybersecurity landscape changing and more applications in use than ever before, password management has turned into a widely discussed topic in 2021.

As end users, we have so many passwords to remember between personal and professional use, which often leads to employees reusing passwords across multiple accounts, not updating passwords for an extended period of time, or using common words or phrases. This can leave your organization exposed to hackers or cyber criminals trying to access your data and systems.

Organizations are now relying on Password Management Solutions, which store and manage online credentials, generally in an encrypted database with a master password. With a variety of viable password management solutions available, there are plenty of considerations when choosing which tool is best for your organization.

Continue reading for twenty questions to ask before choosing a password management solution:

1. How are credentials protected?

2. How are credentials accessed?

3. How are shared passwords managed?

4. Does the platform support multi-factor authentication?

5. How easy is the information to export?

6. Do configuration settings allow to disable exporting?

7. What types of activities are logged?

8. What browsers are supported?

9. Can decryption keys be set manually?

10. How are decryption keys rotated?

11. Does the platform support shared accounts?

12. Can users enter passwords without seeing the underlying clear-text password?

13. Does the platform support conditional access?

14. Does the platform have a browser extension?

15. Does the platform support active directory integration?

16. If the password manager is cloud based, what are the authentication methods? What conditional access mechanisms exist?

17. If the password manager is on-prem, what are the frequency of updates? Can decryption keys be set manually? How are they rotated? 

Obviously, there are a lot of considerations when choosing a solution best for your firm. At the end of the day, the best password manager is going to be the one that is useful and user-friendly to your employees. Some of the considerations for employee usage include:

    18. Will employees be able to save passwords in browsers?

    19. Will password management tools be part of your wider authentication strategy, or will they be optional for employees?

    20. Will you encourage employees to use password management best practices in their personal lives? 

If you're interested in having a conversation about which password management solution is best for your firm, you can contact us.