Password management best practices for businesses
A single compromised password can cause major reputational, operational, and monetary damage to any business. Proton Pass makes it easy to implement password management best practices and prevent breaches.
Trusted by over 50,000 business users and 100 million accounts around the world.
Why password management is important
A single data breach can cost a small business over $1 million. Poor password practices create easy entry points for attackers. Strong password management protects your systems and reduces the likelihood of a preventable breach.
Productivity losses
Teams spend more time resolving security incidents and
resetting passwords.
Compliance violations
Most regulations, including GDPR, require strong authentication and secure
password handling.
Reputation damage
Breaches erode customer trust, which can be difficult to recover from.
Operational disruption
Attackers may lock you out of essential services or hold data for ransom.
Best practices for password management
Use a password manager
An enterprise password manager like Proton Pass is the foundation of modern security. It allows IT admins to enforce security policies, manage access, and ensure employees always have strong credentials — without needing to remember them.
Enforce two-factor authentication (2FA)
Passwords alone aren’t enough against modern attacks. Use 2FA to add a second verification step, such as a time-based one-time password (TOTP) or a physical security key. Even if a password is stolen, 2FA makes the account far harder to compromise.
Integrate with single sign-on (SSO)
Where possible, use SSO so employees only need one secure login. This reduces password overload and lowers the risk of weak or reused credentials. For tools that don’t support SSO, a password manager fills the gaps by keeping those remaining logins secure.
Use long passwords
The 2025 NIST password guidelines recommend long passwords or passphrases over complexity. Longer passwords are much harder to crack than short but complex ones. While NIST recommends 8 characters, 15 or more will be virtually impossible to crack.
Don’t reuse passwords
Using the same password across multiple accounts means one breach compromises everything. Enforce the use of unique logins; employees can automate this by using a password manager to generate strong passwords for each account.
Eliminate security questions and hints
Knowledge-based recovery hints and questions are outdated and not secure. The answers are often easy to find through social engineering, public profiles, or old data breaches. Replace them with stronger recovery methods like 2FA or passkeys.
Don’t text or email your passwords
Sharing passwords over email or chat creates permanent, unencrypted copies that attackers can easily find. Use a secure password sharing tool that encrypts credentials and lets you control or revoke access at any time.(new window)(new window)
Monitor for leaked credentials
Billions of passwords circulate on the dark web from past breaches. Use a tool that automatically scans leak databases and alerts you when company credentials appear, giving you time to reset them before they’re exploited.
Create a password blocklist
Block the use of predictable or high-risk passwords, including dictionary words, company terms, names, dates, and anything found in previous breaches. Modern password managers can check new passwords against leaked data automatically.
Automate offboarding
“Zombie accounts” (logins left active after an employee leaves) are a major source of breaches. Use a password manager that lets you instantly revoke access or transfer shared vaults so credentials aren’t left behind.
Use passkeys where possible
Passkeys are a modern, phishing-resistant alternative to passwords that use public-key cryptography. They let employees sign in with biometrics like Touch ID or Face ID, removing the risk of credential theft because there’s no password to steal. Modern password managers can securely store and sync passkeys across devices.
What are the NIST password guidelines?
The NIST password guidelines are security standards published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. They reflect current best practices, influence global compliance frameworks, and are backed by real-world research.
The latest guidelines represent a shift in strategy to match modern threats:
Use long passwords or passphrases
Remove strict complexity rules
Avoid forced password resets unless there is evidence of compromise
Maintain a blocklist of weak or previously breached passwords
Remove security questions and recovery hints
Use password managers and 2FA to strengthen authentication
The most common password management mistakes
Employees often rely on convenient habits that create major security gaps. Businesses that rely on outdated password policies leave themselves exposed to attacks that are easy to avoid.
Password reuse: Using the same password for multiple accounts, ensuring one breach compromises them all.
Weak passwords: Passwords that are too short or contain common words or configurations are frequently the cause of data breaches.
Unsecure storage: Keeping credentials in spreadsheets or sticky notes where they can be read in plain text.
Unsafe password sharing: Sending passwords via email or chat, creating a permanent record of sensitive data.
Using default credentials: Failing to change factory-set passwords on routers and IoT devices.
Unrevoked access: Leaving accounts active and accessible after an employee leaves the company.
Ignoring leaked credentials: Failing to check if your credentials are already for sale on the dark web.
Use Proton Pass for easy enterprise password management
Implementing password management best practices doesn’t have to be difficult.
Proton Pass helps you apply them automatically across your organization.
Automated password generation
Instantly generate strong, unique credentials for every account.
Secure password storage
Keep data safe with zero-knowledge and end-to-end encryption. Only you can access them.
Dark web monitoring
Receive instant alerts if your company’s credentials appear in a third-party breach.
Secure password sharing
Securely share individual items or even entire vaults and control how long access lasts.
Password vaults
Organize shared accounts by department (like Marketing or Finance) to securely manage access.
Password health check
Identify and fix weak, reused, or compromised credentials across your organization.
Passkey support
Future-proof your security by storing and syncing phishing-resistant passkeys.
Customizable security policies
Set password, 2FA, and sharing rules that match your security requirements.
Advanced protection
Detect and block suspicious login attempts using Proton Sentinel’s AI analysis.
Trusted by teams to stay secure
Elemnta, Australia
50-200 employees
It's really the activity logs that are important for me, and the granular control. The shift to using Proton Pass has greatly benefited us.
GILAI, Switzerland
Managing IT of 1000+ employees
We needed a password manager that would be easy to use for the end user and easy to manage for the administrator. I didn't need to do any specific documentation, or any demo except for the provisioning of the account because it's really, really user friendly.
Novalytica AG, Switzerland
11-50 employees
Onboarding was very easy. Everyone is using it and it works, and no one wants to go back to writing passwords by hand in a sheet or in a notebook.
Frequently asked questions about password management
- How to implement password management best practices?
- Should passwords expire?
- What are passphrases?
- How do I create a strong password?