Enterprise SSO: The antidote to password fatigue

What is password fatigue, and why is it bad for your firm?

Few at the beginning of the 21st century would have guessed that managing passwords would become one of the biggest hassles haunting human beings in the near future. Unfortunately, it is true. Having to remember hundreds of passwords, entering one each time you sign in an application, and changing them every 90 days has become a major headache. Password fatigue can be defined as the fatigue humans experience as a result of the stress and frustration of having to remember different passwords to access different accounts and applications.

How is it bad for your firm? Well, password fatigue is one of the main reasons people take shortcuts when it comes to making and changing passwords. Modern password policies require users to create passwords of varying lengths with a mix of numbers and uppercase, lowercase, and special characters. Passwords must not be similar to usernames; they have to be distinct.

Being forced to do the same thing for hundreds of apps causes people to start reusing passwords and opting for easy-to-remember passwords. Using the same password across applications makes it easier for hackers to carry out brute-force attacks where they use trial and error to guess the correct password to a system. Every time a password gets leaked, hackers add it to their brute-force list. This is also why common and generic passwords should be avoided.

Hackers also use password cracking involving specialized programs and algorithms. This is easier for them if the password is weak and generic. Hackers use various techniques, such as wordlist substitution, dictionary attacks, and rainbow table attacks, to get their hands on users' credentials.

Hackers also use phishing attacks to get people to disclose their passwords. They send emails with phishing links that when clicked take a user to a fake site where they enter their information, such as credit cards, passwords, and social security numbers.

If an attack is successful, the attacker tries using the same set of credentials for all the other applications to which the user has access. If the user has reused their password, it is an instant win for the hacker as they now have access to multiple applications. This creates a huge security risk for organizations as the hacker may use this data to impersonate the user and gain access to other systems.

Due to password fatigue, people also tend to store passwords in Excel files or in physical form, like diaries and notebooks. This is dangerous as these files may fall into the wrong hands.

What is enterprise SSO?

Enterprise SSO is an authentication solution that allows end users to securely access multiple applications and websites using a single set of credentials. Enterprise SSO works as an intermediary between identity providers and service providers.

An SSO session is created when a user requests access to any of the applications hosted by the service providers. The service provider then creates a token and sends it to the identity provider for verification.

The identity provider checks if the user is already authenticated. If so, it sends the token back to the service provider, asking it to grant the user access. If not, it asks the user for verification, which can be through a TOTP, QR code, or username and password. Once the user is verified, the identity provider sends the verified token through the user's browser to the service provider that then grants the user access.

Enterprises have to deal with multiple identity providers that non-employees like partners and business units use to sign in. They also have multiple service providers in charge of different applications that their employees need. Enterprise SSO act as an intermediary hub and secure passageway between these identity providers and service providers, validating user identities and granting access wherever required without the hassle of logging in multiple times.

Choosing the right SSO solution for your enterprise

There are many things to note when selecting the right solution for your enterprise. You have to consider what you want the end-user experience to be, what your business objectives are, what funds are available, and what your organization needs.

Some questions that you should ask when selecting the right SSO solution for your enterprise include:

• Does the SSO solution provide your employees with a standardized user experience throughout the enterprise?
• Are the MFA or 2FA options easy to use?
• Does the vendor provide self-service registration and password recovery capabilities?
• Does the SSO solution support multiple options when it comes to MFA or 2FA, like QR codes, TOTPs, and fingerprints?
• Does the SSO vendor support all the relevant industry standards, like SAML, OpenID Connect, and OAuth 2.0?
• Does the vendor support hybrid deployments (cloud and on-premises)?
• Does the vendor provide enough support to upgrade their SSO offering to fit your enterprise's needs?
• Does the vendor have a good record in the industry when it comes to IAM solutions and SSO?

How can enterprise SSO help combat password fatigue?

Enterprise SSO solutions are the frontline warriors fighting password fatigue in companies. SSO elevates the user experience, reduces the time it takes to log in, and adds an extra layer of security to your organization through MFA or 2FA. Some of these benefits are:

A smaller attack surface:

Only having to remember one strong password and not being burdened with logging in multiple times reduces the risk of password fatigue and makes users more likely to follow password best practices. This makes your enterprise much less susceptible to phishing and brute-force attacks.

Empowered users:

Giving users the ability to quickly access whatever resources and applications they need results in them being more efficient and productive. Authentication via SSO gives users access to thousands of apps in a single click, removing any requirement for manual oversight and leaving no room for frustration among users.

Easier IT environment control:

The IT environment in an enterprise is ever-changing. This makes it difficult to ensure that everyone gets the right access to the right tools all the time. SSO allows IT teams to allocate tools, applications, and resources to an end user according to their department, role, and seniority. This paves the way for a transparent view of who is doing what as well as easier user access audits.

Password fatigue affects millions of employees around the globe. The risks borne out of shortcuts taken by employees to circumvent password fatigue are too great to ignore. The ideal solution is to completely remove the need to remember hundreds of passwords and log in multiple times.

This is where SSO comes in. It revolutionizes how users access multiple applications by using just a single set of credentials. Implementing SSO in your enterprise will reduce IT help desk costs, increase productivity, and create a standardized user experience for end users accessing enterprise resources throughout the organization.