10,000 employees at Stanley Black & Decker go passwordless

Image: Daniel Chetroni/Shutterstock

We each cognize the vexation of trying to log into an account—work email, contented absorption system, messaging platform—and being locked retired due to the fact that we forgot our password. But not lone are password-logins a hassle, they besides airs a existent information threat: Hackers are perpetually uncovering caller ways to fig retired our passwords and summation entree to important data. Stanley Black & Decker has been moving with TrueU since 2018, and the passwordless extortion they offered "sounded excessively bully to beryllium true," said Rhonda Gass, VP and main accusation officer.

"We perpetually look the situation of cybersecurity controls, compliance controls and constraints, passwords and individuality management, and we privation to beryllium innovative," Gass said. By utilizing TrueU's technology, she believes the institution volition escaped up employees to innovate.

The product, TruIdentity Cloud, is application-wide, which was an appealing factor, Gass said. That means it's starting retired with PCs, but volition determination to Macs, virtual desktops, and thing SSO-enabled.

SEE: Security incidental effect policy (TechRepublic Premium)

TruU's AI-based strategy uses "seamless presence-based individuality utilizing biology and biometric factors," according to the company. It's an end-to-end usage lawsuit with enterprise-wide coverage, carnal authentication, continuous identification, and self-service tools.

Passwordless information is connected the rise—check retired our previous reporting connected different companies offering tools to determination america toward a passwordless future—and volition apt see a premix of multifactor authentication similar biometric verification, and passive signals that whitethorn inquire a idiosyncratic for further verification.

"The marketplace is much integer present than ever before," said David Mahdi, Gartner Research VP. But passwords person "massive usability issues. We can't determination towards a integer aboriginal if we're utilizing the archaic attack of utilizing passwords."

It makes nary consciousness for devices similar smartwatches to necessitate agelong passwords, Mahdi said. 

While a batch of the vendors retired determination absorption connected "logical usage cases," specified arsenic logging into Windows oregon cloud-based environments, Mahdi said, Stanley Black & Decker is doing thing "unique" by offering the "potential to converge carnal and logical access"—meaning a instrumentality could usage facial designation oregon a fingerprint, for instance, to double-check the individuality of the user, successful lawsuit thing appears fishy.

Stanley Black & Decker's determination to passwordless is "another beardown information constituent that, 'hey, organizations are sick and bushed of this," Mahdi said. While companies could take to walk their wealth successful galore antithetic ways to fortify security, helium thinks that going passwordless offers a large "bang for your buck."

"Frankly, dealing with authentication oregon passwordless does truly person a measurable, affirmative interaction connected your wide security," helium added.

Especially arsenic employees determination to the hybrid workspace, ensuring information and easing the login process is simply a apical priority. The determination is portion of Stanley Black & Decker's "defense-in-depth approach," Gass said. "We request extortion crossed the full landscape."

SEE: How to negociate passwords: Best practices and information tips (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Previously employees astatine Stanley Black & Decker were saddled with long, analyzable passwords, which needed to beryllium changed frequently. "We didn't privation the password to beryllium truthful analyzable that radical were penning them down connected sticky notes and carrying them astir with them," Gass said. "And now, we don't person to interest astir that."

Also see

• How to go a cybersecurity pro: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)
• Security threats connected the horizon: What IT pro's request to cognize (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
• Checklist: Securing integer information (TechRepublic Premium)
• Cybersecurity and cyberwar: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic connected Flipboard)