To Choose a password manager is essential for development teams looking to enhance security and streamline collaboration. With tools like Passpack, teams can safely manage and share access to digital resources, safeguarding critical assets while boosting productivity.
Does Your Development Team Need a Password Manager?
Development teams are prime examples of team-based collaboration. A development project team is typically a group of 3 to 9 members working together to design, create, launch, and implement a solution.
Most people associate the term with software development or DevOps, but the project could be any product or service requiring multiple people with different skill sets to bring it to fruition.
Development teams can be organized in a variety of ways: traditional hierarchical style, role-based leadership, horizontal or cross-functional (a.k.a. scrums), or even structured around the stages of the customer journey.
It all depends on what is right for the organization. The development team model is popular among IT companies that offer application development and customization services to clients, as well as at SMBs that have their own internal product development capabilities.
The common denominators across all businesses using team-based development practices regardless of product or structure are collaboration and security.
In today’s highly-interconnected environment, team members – and only authorized team members – must be able to effectively access credentials to shared tools, databases, and network services to communicate, build, and problem solve.
Further, development teams need to be confident that their designs and intellectual property remain secure until release. A password manager app is key to achieving collaboration and security. So yes, your development team absolutely needs a password manager!
This article focuses on how the Passpack Password Management application facilitates collaboration and security among development team members by effectively managing the credentials that access and protect shared digital resources.
Secure Credential Storage & Sharing for Development Teams
Is your company’s idea the next big thing? For many small and medium-sized businesses the fate of the firm could hinge on its success or failure. You can’t afford to have code leaked or ideas stolen in a breach. Nor can you afford the downtime and delays caused by lost or corrupted credentials.
Effective password sharing is vital to team productivity and security. Over the life of a collaborative project, a development team aggregates enough password-protected tools, user identities, and resources that it becomes cumbersome to securely track and share them all manually.
Is your business willing to risk its future on printed spreadsheets of usernames and passwords floating around the office? How are credentials created, updated, and shared with remote team members? Texting or emailing passwords, account numbers, and PINs in human readable form leaves your team and its data vulnerable to cyberthreats.
When the project is finished or a team member’s role is complete, how do you revoke user access? That’s where a password manager can help.
At just $1.50 per user per month for the Passpack Teams plan for teams of up to 20 people, you can’t afford not to implement the Passpack Password Management application.
What to Look for When it is Time Choosing a Password Manager for Your Developer Team
Sometimes, just forcing team members to use passwords isn’t enough. Left to their own devices, many users will choose passwords that are easy to remember or are similar across multiple accounts. That also makes them easy to crack.
Here are some key elements to look for in any password manager app under consideration, and how Passpack checks each box when you choose a password manager.
- End-to-End Data Encryption. All credentials and user information stored in the app should be encrypted while in transit and at rest to prevent hackers from viewing data in readable form. When passwords are shared between Passpack users and teams, they are done so in a fully encrypted format utilizing military-grade AES 256-bit encryption. Decryption only takes place on the end user’s device.
Zero-Knowledge Architecture. That means only you and - Zero-Knowledge Architecture. That means only you and your authorized users have access to the encryption keys to unlock digital services – not even the service provider can see your data. Passpack is built on a zero-knowledge architecture and never has access to confidential customer information. Further, Passpack offers an additional layer of protection through its unique Packing Key technology. Unlike some other applications that have customers set up their accounts with a master username and password that doubles as the account’s encryption key, Passpack’s implementation of zero-knowledge architecture requires the use of an encrypted Packing Key that is completely different from the master username and password for a much more secure solution.
- Strong Password Creation. A random character password generator is a standard feature of any password manager app worth its salt. It removes the burden of users having to dream up strong passwords and the risks of using weak or reused credentials. Passpack’s built-in password generator automatically creates random alpha-numeric strings and puts centralized rules in place regarding the minimum length, strength, and special character use with which all users must comply.
- Universal Access. The password manager app should be accessible to users wherever work takes them, from any device using any web browser, and not limited to a specific OS, location, or platform. Passpack is a cloud-based, platform-agnostic solution that is accessible from any browser/device/OS. Team members can freely create and share digital resources from anywhere, but always under the watchful eye of a centralized password administrator who has 360° visibility into every password-related activity.
The 3 Benefits When You Choose a Password Manager for Development Teams
The benefits of development teams implementing a password manager app like Passpack can be summed up in three words: Collaboration, Agility, and Security.
- Collaboration. Streamlining access to shared digital resources improves communication and overall productivity. Goals are accomplished faster when team members have reliable access to the right tools and latest versions to do their jobs more effectively – whether in the office or remotely.
- Agility. Quickly create teams, assign various roles, manage permissions by user and then share or update credentials among team members through a centralized administrator. Easily on- and off-board team members as needed to address changes during the project lifecycle without impacting the privileges of other users.
- Security. Keep your team’s latest innovation under wraps and minimize the risk of a breach with strong password creation and secure sharing through end-to-end encryption. For teams working on highly confidential projects, Passpack supports another level of protection through industry-standard Multi-Factor Authentication with Google and Microsoft Authenticator, plus YubiKey for physical authentication needs. Passpack’s detailed reporting features and activity logs offer additional security by alerting admins to suspicious login attempts and can help trace the source of a breach.
Passpack: The Preferred Password Manager App for Multi-User Teams
Development teams are just that; teams of people with complimentary skills working toward a common goal. But today those teams are more diverse than ever, perhaps working from different locations, using different devices and platforms, with members that come and go.
Robust password management is critical to the productivity of collaborative environments. Whether the outcome is a piece of software, a vaccine, or the formula for a new beverage flavor, Passpack provides the secure credential sharing capabilities that enhance team collaboration while keeping access to digital assets restricted to authorized users.
As discussed, Passpack is built on zero-trust architecture, supports end-to-end encryption, is platform-agnostic, and is extremely affordable. With subscriptions starting at $1.50 per user/month for the Teams Plan, and just $4.50 per user/month for the Business Plan, Passpack is the perfect solution for IT application developers as well as SMBs employing a development team model.
But Passpack is also infinitely scalable, capable of supporting an unlimited number of users, teams, and passwords. So, whether you’re a startup hoping to grow over time, or an established enterprise pivoting to team-based collaboration, Passpack can help bring team development projects to a successful conclusion.
Try Passpack for Free
Not sure which password manager app to choose for your development team? Not all are created equal, and none can match the value of Passpack. Try Passpack today risk-free. Sign up for a no-obligation 28-day free trial of the Passpack Business Plan and see how your team can thrive with secure collaboration without busting your budget!