Today, you and your customers cannot access anything without a username and password. In fact, your everyday life consists of endless requests for a username and password. You need them to access online banking systems, schedule doctor visits, access video and music streaming platforms, and even order food delivery. These are just some of the things that might require that you personally provide a username and password. This doesn’t include all the systems you need to access to do your job: send emails, manage customer requests, access product content, etc. As a result, we are all drowning in passwords.

People simply can’t remember multiple different combinations of usernames and passwords, so they start reusing the same combination for multiple systems. According to Security Boulevard, “A Google survey found that at least 65% of people reuse passwords across multiple, if not all, sites. Another recent survey found that 91% of respondents claim to understand the risks of reusing passwords across multiple accounts, but 59% admitted to doing it anyway.”

What does this mean? It means that people are using the same passwords for their personal sites that they are for their business applications. When you combine this fact with knowledge from the Forbes article “New Dark Web Audit 15 Billion Stolen Logins From 100,000 Breaches,” it becomes clear that reusing the same password for personal and business apps puts users and their companies at higher risk.

Antivirus, endpoint protection, password reset, VPNs, spam + DNS filtering … Billions have been invested in these and other solutions, but nothing has stopped or reduced the number of breaches.

As an MSP or MSSP, if you are not offering your customers a solution that reduces the number of passwords they need to use, you and your customers are at risk. You need to ensure that they are logging into their applications as securely as possible. You need to ensure that they are not using passwords that have been compromised. You need to ensure that they are the ones logging in and not the hackers.

Multi factor authentication (MFA) might be part of the solution, but you need to ensure that it is implemented across all the applications your customers are using. You need to ensure that it is easy for them to use.

There is a better way to solve this issue:  with an identity access management (IAM) solution.

The Solution: Identity Access Management

What is identity access management, and how can it benefit you and your customers? Simply put, IAM refers to a centrally managed solution that securely manages your users’ identities and controls their access to resources. Identity access management continues to evolve and offer more product features than you might realize. OneLogin Identity Access Management is a foundation upon which you can build simple and secure experiences between people and technology.

The three key benefits when implementing an identity management system for you and your customers are:

Summary

As an MSP, you are responsible for securing your customers’ access to the systems they need to get their work done. That means you are responsible for securing their identities and how they access their resources. Simple password vault solutions do not provide the level of security that is needed to protect your users today. You need a strong IAM solution like OneLogin. With OneLogin’s identity access management capabilities, you will strengthen security structure, improve productivity, lower help desk costs, consolidate application access, create happier customers and find a new revenue stream. You need to add an IAM system to your solution set today.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.