[su_heading]Survey reveals that two in five Sysadmins store sensitive passwords in unencrypted Word files[/su_heading]
Security managers and IT engineers around the world ignore or neglect to implement basic security rules and policies, storing highly sensitive passwords in unencrypted Word or Excel, which anyone can intercept and open without difficulty.
CyberArk's research findings highlight the poor security practices adopted by companies and organizations worldwide.
The survey reveals that 40% of organizations store sensitive passwords to Office files on their corporate PCs, while 28% use a shared server or USB stick.
The problem is not where Sysadmins to save their passwords, or the type of files they use, but rather that they do not protect these files with sufficient encryption. An administrator could safely store passwords in a text file on their desktop, provided that it is encrypted and of course that easy access to the data on their computer is prevented by technical means.
Modern malware such as RATs (Remote Access Trojans) are known to thoroughly scan infected computers for files, mostly looking for Office files. Storing passwords in this way is completely unsafe and should be avoided at all costs.
CyberArk’s research also shows that 71% of Sysadmins also store passwords in specialized software. This means that many administrators use Word files over specialized software to store their passwords, likely because they are more easily accessible and easier to use.
