The Password Spreadsheet: Why NOT to store your passwords in Excel

Is your organization still using an Excel password spreadsheet to store and manage sensitive passwords—the keys to your kingdom?

You’re not alone. But storing privileged account passwords and credentials in an Excel spreadsheet poses a serious security risk.

Excel was never intended to be a password manager, so there’s no chance it’s ever going to be the best way to store passwords, even if it’s password-protected. Strong, mathematical functionality does not equate to strong security. It bears repeating: in the enterprise cyber security world, there is no such thing as an “Excel password manager”.

There is no excuse good enough to ever justify storing passwords in a spreadsheet—not even a password-protected one

While various online entities may offer ‘secure’ Excel password templates, the level of security provided is no match for a criminal hacker.

Privileged accounts and passwords must be protected with the highest security possible, and that absolutely must include two-factor authentication.

It’s this simple: the lack of built-in security, data loss, and security updates that you get with a spreadsheet template is making your organization highly vulnerable to attack.

How do you eliminate the risk of using Excel for storing enterprise passwords?

The answer is to switch to purpose-designed, automated privileged access management software. A full-featured product built to manage privileged accounts and privileged account access not only provides security but enables you to focus on other IT operations and enterprise priorities.

The key features of a strong privileged account management solution include:

–  Ability to store, manage, and share passwords with your team
–  Top-level security with audit and compliance features for your organization
–  Real-time management and disaster recovery

Need buy-in from other members of your team?

Old password management habits are hard to break, but once your company sees the security and functionality that the right privileged account management solution brings to your enterprise, you’ll be the office hero.

There is no excuse good enough to justify storing passwords in Excel
Start a free enterprise password management trial and you’ll be just 15 minutes from finding out why it’s the only way to manage and store your passwords.

Stay safe!

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Thycotic authored by Barbara Hoffman. Read the original post at: https://thycotic.com/company/blog/2021/10/14/stop-using-excel-spreadsheets-for-password-management/