The Best Way to Share Passwords with Your Team Is Also the Easiest (and Most Secure)

What value does secure password sharing bring to your business? 

Picture this: A sticky note with passwords on a monitor or shared spreadsheet with payroll system credentials – this is a common scene at workplaces everywhere. If you’ve shared passwords with colleagues on Post-it notes, you’re in good company: 40% of your peers like to use pen and paper too.  

But here’s a question worth considering: With soaring credential theft, do you have clear visibility into login activity, and can you quickly revoke access if a credential is compromised? 

Sticky notes could sink your business overnight 

In 2025, hackers are targeting both machine and non-machine identities.  

In fact, “secrets” associated with machine accounts – like database passwords, access tokens, certificates, and API keys – are leaking at an unprecedented rate (up 25% from the previous year).  

And here’s why: Machine identities now outnumber human users by at least 45-to-1 in many environments, and 70% of these identities live in public repositories like GitHub.  

Shockingly, researchers say many of those identities are still valid and usable today, which means no one has changed or revoked them. In 2025, a password manager is no longer optional; it’s a critical defense against the devastating fallout from identity based attacks. 

According to VikingCloud’s 2025 threat landscape report, nearly 55% of SMBs say it would take less than $50,000 in losses to force them out of business after an attack. 

For 32%, it would take less than $10,000. If those numbers are any indication, it’s time for a smarter, safer way to share access at work. 

Below, we show you how LastPass can help secure every identity – human or machine - so you can sleep at night knowing your data is locked tight. 

The dangerous reality of leaked passwords left active for years 

In 2024, 23.7 million machine identities surfaced on public GitHub, which hosts both public and private repositories. 

That said, generic secrets (authentication tokens, hardcoded passwords, custom API keys) are leaked more often from private than public repositories: 

• Generic secrets = 74.4% of leaks in private repositories | 58% of leaks in public repositories 

• Hardcoded passwords (passwords embedded in source code) = 24% of leaks in private repositories | 9% of leaks in public repositories 

This suggests developers are more likely to hardcode credentials in code they consider “private.” Doing so, however, invites a false of security: even “private” code can be at risk if credentials aren’t managed properly. 

Machine credentials also often have broad permissions: 

• 99% of leaked API keys either had full access (58%) or read-only access (41%) 

• 96% of GitHub tokens had write access, with 95% offering full repository access 

Without proper management, both machine and non-machine credentials can be exploited years after they’ve been exposed – often with devastating consequences. 

This was seen in the 2024 high profile attack on the U.S. Treasury, where a leaked API key led to state actors accessing several computers and unclassified documents. 

How a password manager transforms security for every identity 

With LastPass, you have a Secure by Design password manager that supports both human and machine identities.  

Here are three (3) easy steps to get started. 

Acknowledge concerns about using a password manager but provide context 

Let’s face it: Every change initiative faces resistance. People resist due to distrust, fear of the unknown, perceived risk, or desire to keep the status quo.  

If your employees have ever voiced these concerns, they aren’t alone: 

“...scammers...might crack the password manager and... get to my passwords.” 

“I only trust my notebook. I have no trust in... any other method. My notebook is quickly accessible.” 

“I can’t handle a password manager... [they] are extremely complicated and cumbersome.” 

“If hackers can get into online systems, what stops them from hacking password managers...” 

Tell your employees no system is 100% hack proof. Even tech giants like Microsoft must contend with determined adversaries, and its customers experience 600 million attacks daily.  

No stranger to attacks, Microsoft emphasizes that the key to staying safe is proactive defense. In this light, the risk of not using a password manager is far greater than relying on insecure methods like Post-it notes and notebooks. 

Highlight the consequences of insecure password sharing and how password managers mitigate them 

Unmanaged credentials pose a danger to half of organizations, and if you work in a tightly regulated industry, protecting sensitive data isn’t just a best practice. It’s a requirement.  

If your business fails to secure both machine and non-machine identities, it can be liable for significant financial and regulatory penalties. 

• GDPR: In Q1 2025, the GDPR Enforcement Tracker Report says 2,245 fines amounting to about EUR 5.65 billion were levied for data protection failures. 

• PCI DSS: Non-compliance with data protection rules can result in monthly fines between $5,000 and $100,000, which can easily push your business to bankruptcy. In 2009, Heartland Payment Systems paid $145 million in fines and was banned from processing card payments for 14 months due to leaked customer data. The company also lost $12.6 million because of legal fees, fines by credit card companies, and recovery costs. 

• CCPA: American Honda Motor Co. paid $632,500 in fines in Q1 2025 for not only requiring excessive personal info to exercise certain privacy rights but also sharing that info with third parties without proper safeguards. 

With LastPass, you can avoid these costly fines. 

We make security easy, helping you keep passwords, SaaS app credentials, API keys, bank logins, and sensitive documents safe with: 

• Military-grade AES-256 encryption: Every password, login, and secret is locked tight with AES-256, making brute force attacks computationally impractical. It’s worth noting that data privacy laws like FISMA require FIPS 140-2 (and soon, FIPS 140-3) compliance and NIST has endorsed AES with key sizes 128, 192, or 256 bits for FIPS. And even with the advent of quantum computing, AES-256 remains robust, as quantum algorithms like Grover’s can only reduce its effective security to AES-128 levels, which is still considered highly secure. This is why banks, militaries, and governments use AES-256. 

• Encrypted URLs: Every credential linked to a site or platform is protected by encrypted URLs. This means even the pathways to your data are shielded from prying eyes. In addition, if your organization uses a directory like Active Directory, your employees can enjoy SSO authentication to LastPass and its catalog of more than 1,200 SaaS apps. This means access to specific URLs is granted only after successful authentication. 

• Zero Knowledge architecture: Even if hackers break in, your data remains a mystery. Zero Knowledge means your secrets are encrypted locally, and only you and your team can unlock them. 

• FIDO2 keys: With FIDO2 authentication, your team logs in with passkeys or hardware keys like YubiKey, making credential theft nearly impossible. 

• Secure sharing: With LastPass, you and your employees won’t have to rely on sticky notes. You can also revoke access instantly when needed, so only the right people have access. See how to easily deploy least privilege sharing to protect sensitive accounts in LastPass. 

Need to protect public and secret API keys? First, create custom templates in Secure Notes to organize your API keys by adding fields for API key type, machine name or application, creation date, and more. You can easily share API keys by using the Sharing Center and revoke sharing at any time.  

 

For API key security, you’ll want to manually rotate (or revoke) API keys every 90 days (or after a known security incident). This is done through the respective service provider’s admin interface. After generating new keys, you can then update them in your LastPass Secure Notes. 

 

This method of storing API keys in LastPass and manually revoking them is user-friendly, which makes it ideal for small to medium teams. While you can use an automated secrets manager like HashiCorp Vault for automated rotation, be aware this requires considerable technical expertise for setup and ongoing maintenance. 

• Autofill: With LastPass autofill, you can make manual logins a thing of the past, eliminating human error and password reuse. 

• Dark Web Monitoring for Business: LastPass hunts for stolen credentials 24/7, even when your business is closed. If you’re compromised, you’ll know with instant alerts. 

Build a security culture around password managers  

Industry experts frequently tout the importance of a security culture, but what does it take to foster one? 

Here’s how LastPass can help you normalize secure password sharing and a security culture.  

• Lead by example. Show how LastPass is the best way to share passwords with your team by encouraging leadership to use LastPass openly. 

• Establish clear policies and expectations. Clearly communicate expectations, such as how to create strong credentials, share passwords securely, and use LastPass for all credentials. Be sure to define consequences for policy violations to ensure compliance with industry regulations. 

• Choose a user-friendly password manager like LastPass. Emphasize LastPass’ user-friendly features like autofill and easy password sharing. 

• Reward compliance with incentives. This can include small rewards such as extra time off, gift cards, or company branded swag. You can also publicly recognize employees or teams who achieve 100% adoption of LastPass. Finally, be sure to emphasize that each LastPass Business employee account comes with five (5) FREE Families accounts to share with friends and family.  

• Integrate LastPass into onboarding and training. Introduce new employees to LastPass during their first days and offer regular security awareness sessions that includes password manager best practices. 

• Monitor use and modify as needed. With LastPass, you can monitor usage habits to identify gaps in use or employee resistance. For example, LastPass SaaS Monitoring lets you see which apps are being accessed, who’s accessing them, and how they’re being accessed (SSO, password, passkey). You also get to see browsers used to open each app, device OS (operating systems), and timestamps of logins. For more, read the LastPass SaaS Monitoring ebook and watch our product demos: Business + SaaS Monitoring. Tip: For continuous improvement, be sure to gather user feedback to identify challenges and make corresponding policy updates. 

As a 2025 G2 leader and Business Titan award winner, our commitment to data security and privacy is well established. To experience the peace of mind enjoyed by millions, get access to secure password management, SaaS security, and Dark Web Monitoring for Business with a free trial of Business Max today (no credit card required).