UK charity fixes weak passwords for Cyber Essentials certification
Specops helps a UK charity achieve Cyber Essentials certification and supports remote workers reset their passwords on Chromebooks.
Region
UK & Ireland
Company size
500-999
Product(s)
Specops Password Policy
Breached Password Protection
Specops uReset
Breached Password Protection
Specops uReset
Industry
Health Care
“Specops gives us compliance and protection — with virtually no admin overhead.”
UK charities operate in a highly regulated environment. As they process sensitive information, they need to demonstrate robust cybersecurity, such as achieving recognized certifications like Cyber Essentials. When a penetration test revealed that many users in this organization were using weak passwords, Specops was chosen as the solution to help them remediate and get certified.
At a glance
Zero
Insecure passwords subsequent in follow-up pen tests
Five
Billion breached passwords blocked
500
Remote and hybrid workers supported with simple, secure password resets
Fixing weak passwords and enabling easy resets for remote workers
As the newly appointed Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Lead, Marc Green discovered through a penetration test that his organization’s passwords were weak and easily cracked.
“Security had been a bit of a mess – we discovered some very obvious passwords were being used, like using the name of our organization or the word ‘password’ with funny characters,” shared Marc.
The pen test recommended deploying a password deny list. Through his research, Marc found Specops Password Policy, which was chosen to encourage passphrases with length-based password aging. This has has been a hit with his 500 end users, who now get more time before they have to reset their passwords. The added Breached Password Protection feature continuously blocks over 5 billion compromised passwords to ensure those resets are secure. Thanks to these features, subsequent pen tests have uncovered zero password issues.
Marc also needed a solution to help his users (who are 50% remote and 50% hybrid) reset their AD passwords from their Chromebooks. Once again, he turned to Specops, specifically uReset. His users are now able to securely reset their AD passwords from their Chromebooks through a Specops uReset link. The web interface provides dynamic feedback that includes a length-based password aging meter that highlights how many more days the user will get before they have to reset their password.
Both Specops Password Policy and Specops uReset helped Marc’s team achieve Cyber Essentials accreditation that helps prove to partners and government entities that they take cybersecurity seriously and that the sensitive data their organization processes is in safe hands.
Would Marc recommend Specops Password Policy and Specops uReset?
“Yes I really would and I have done to peers at other organizations. It’s really helped change the behavior of our users. They can see the benefits of using passphrases which is good. Specops also has really helped us in achieving Cyber Essentials accreditation by far exceeding what they ask for.”
Solution
Specops Password Policy
Elevate your password security
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