Cybersecurity should be a top priority for every organization. Yet seemingly simple mistakes, such as using the same passwords for both work and personal accounts, often lead to devastating consequences. At Binary Confidence, our incident response experiences have shown just how catastrophic neglecting password hygiene can be.
In one notable incident, an employee at a well-established company used the same password for both personal and work accounts. Years earlier, the password had leaked from the employee’s private accounts, allowing attackers to gain access to the company’s domain administrator account. The consequences were severe:
- For two weeks, attackers silently infiltrated the company network, exfiltrating sensitive data and preparing to encrypt the entire virtual infrastructure.
- Over the weekend, they launched a massive encryption campaign targeting servers, backups, and network devices.
- The company only realized something was wrong on Monday morning when employees couldn’t access their email accounts.
Although we were able to partially recover some data, most of it remained damaged or unreadable. The root cause of the situation wasn’t just the weak password—it was also a lack of network activity visibility and missing proactive cybersecurity measures.
Attackers always look for the path of least resistance.
Why would they try to bypass firewalls, EDR, or XDR systems when they can simply log in using your credentials? A password leaked in older security breaches can become the key to accessing your corporate systems.
As statistics show, attackers can operate undetected in an average, unmonitored corporate network for up to 200 days. That gives them plenty of time to plan and execute their attack.
Protecting Against These Attacks Starts with Basic Cyber Hygiene:
1. Don’t Reuse Passwords for Work and Personal Accounts
Check if your email or password has appeared in past leaks using services like 'haveibeenpwned.com’.
2. Use Multi-Factor Authentication
This simple step significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
3. Create Long, Unique Passwords
Avoid predictable patterns like “Password.6” and “Password.7.” A password generator can help you create strong passphrases.
4. Use a Password Manager
If you can’t install password management software, modern browsers offer built-in options to save passwords—but ensure MFA protects these too. Be cautious when saving company passwords to browsers that sync with personal devices.
5. Leverage Professional Security Services
Our Security Operations Center (SOC) offers advanced protection, including monitoring unusual access activities and proactively alerting you to potential threats. Additionally, we utilize paid threat intelligence feeds to identify and mitigate risks before they escalate.
What You Should Do
Cyber threats continue to evolve, but the principles of protection remain the same. Don’t underestimate the importance of good security habits or make life easier for attackers. If you’re unsure about your company’s security posture or need effective monitoring and protection, don’t hesitate to contact us or explore our SOC services.
Securing your business is a long-term effort, but with the right tools and discipline, you can dramatically reduce the risk of an incident. Ask yourself this: do you have multi-factor authentication enabled, and are you using unique, strong passwords? If not, now is the time to change that.
