In today’s digital era, a lot of things happen online, more so after the pandemic hit the world. Because of things moving online, there came the need for passwords which have now become universally accepted authentication mechanisms. However, it’s been noticed that weak and stolen passwords are the reason for data breaches across the globe. In order to avoid password-related threats, businesses are now opting for passwordless routes; doing this will help organizations protect themselves from password-based threats. But what is passwordless authentication, you ask? Well, here is all that you need to know:
What is passwordless authentication?
As the name suggests, any authentication method that allows the user to log in to an account without a password is called passwordless authentication. There are different methods that allow for passwordless authentication like biometrics (touch ID, face ID), time-based one-time passwords (TOTPs), and authenticator apps like Windows Hello and Zoho OneAuth. There are many technologies that make passwordless authentication possible and Single sign-on (SSO) is one such that is employed by many enterprises. With SSO, admins can allow users to safely access any number of cloud applications without having to enter passwords manually. If you haven’t ever used SSO, here are some tips to get started:
Identify your business passwords
Know the number of business accounts managed by your organization; determine the users who are currently accessing the accounts and validate their access privileges accordingly. When you do this, you prevent credential or privilege misuse in the future. The best way to implement this is by having a password manager like Zoho Vault. In Zoho Vault, you find all these details in your organization’s account. You can also have a password manager to help you organize all passwords in one place before going passwordless.
Find services that support passwordless SSO
There are protocols like Kerberos and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) that support passwordless SSO in facilitating the exchange of authentication data between the service provider (the cloud applications your user access) and the identity provider (the SSO portal they use to log in). Latest applications support SAML – based single sign-on but you need to be sure if your application does that too. When using Zoho Vault for performing such an operation, you need to add a “supports SSO” tag to quickly filter your passwords.
Configure passwordless SSO
After you get the list of passwords that support SSO, configure passwordless SSO for all your business applications using an identity provider.
An important point to consider
Though most applications support single sign-on, a few may not and for all such applications, you must look for options like biometrics, TOTPs or authentication apps.
If you choose a password manager like Zoho Vault, you can safely store and share TOTP codes with other users thus helping teams to collaborate efficiently without needing to manage a static password. All in all, you need to protect access to your accounts either with passwordless authentication or with safe password management, or probably both.
When you opt to use Zoho Vault, these offer support for passwordless SSO for unlimited cloud applications and give admins complete control of their business passwords while also enforcing strong password policies.
