Every January, people take a hard look at habits they know aren’t helping them.
Not because they didn’t know better, but because they’re tired of paying for it later.
Businesses have the same problem.
The difference is that business “bad habits” don’t show up as headaches or hangovers. They show up as hidden risk, unmanaged liability, and uncomfortable questions when something goes wrong.
Here are six common behaviors that quietly increase exposure, and what responsible organizations do instead.
Habit #1: Clicking “Remind Me Later”
Postponed updates aren’t just an inconvenience issue. They’re a governance issue.
Many updates exist to close known security gaps—gaps that attackers already understand. Delaying them turns known risk into accepted risk, often without leadership ever realizing a decision was made.
This is how organizations end up compromised by issues that had fixes available months earlier.
What to do instead:
Updates should be managed deliberately, scheduled predictably, and tracked. Risk shouldn’t hinge on whether someone clicked a button at the right time.
Habit #2: One Password for Everything
Reused credentials are one of the most common causes of serious breaches.
When a third-party service is compromised—and many are—those credentials don’t stay isolated. They’re tested everywhere else they might work.
At that point, access loss isn’t hypothetical. It’s a math problem.
What to do instead:
Organizations that take reasonable care enforce unique credentials and centralized access controls. This isn’t about convenience, it’s about limiting blast radius.
Habit #3: Sharing Credentials Through Email or Text
When credentials are shared casually, they become permanent records—stored, backed up, searchable, and recoverable by anyone who gains access later.
From a risk standpoint, this creates exposure that can’t be tracked or revoked.
What to do instead:
Access should be controlled, auditable, and revocable. If credentials can’t be accounted for, they can’t be defended.
Habit #4: Over-Privileged Access
Granting broad administrative access “because it’s easier” concentrates risk.
If one account is compromised, the damage multiplies. And from a defensibility standpoint, it’s difficult to explain why unnecessary authority was granted in the first place.
What to do instead:
Access should align with role and responsibility. Least privilege isn’t a technical preference, it’s liability control.
Habit #5: Temporary Workarounds That Never Went Away
Workarounds accumulate quietly. Over time, they become fragile dependencies that only exist in people’s heads.
When those people leave—or when conditions change—business operations fail in unpredictable ways.
What to do instead:
Risk-aware organizations identify and retire brittle processes before they become single points of failure.
Habit #6: The Spreadsheet That Runs Everything
When critical operations depend on undocumented spreadsheets, organizations inherit:
- No audit trail
- No accountability
- No resilience
From a governance perspective, that’s an unacceptable concentration of risk.
What to do instead:
Core business processes belong in systems designed for continuity, access control, and recoverability, not personal files.
Why These Habits Persist
Most leaders already know these behaviors are risky.
They persist because:
- Consequences are delayed
- Shortcuts feel efficient
- Everyone assumes someone else is responsible
Until an incident, audit, or insurance review forces the issue.
How Organizations Actually Break These Habits
They don’t rely on discipline.
They change the environment.
Responsible organizations:
- Remove risky defaults
- Establish clear ownership
- Validate controls
- Document decisions
They don’t ask people to behave perfectly, they design systems that make the right behavior unavoidable.
Ready to Eliminate Risk Instead of Normalizing It?
If these habits sound familiar, you’re not alone.
The difference between exposed organizations and defensible ones isn’t effort, it’s structure.
Schedule a Cyber Risk Reality Check.
A short, executive-level conversation to identify:
- Where exposure actually exists
- Which habits create liability
- What reasonable care looks like for your organization
No jargon. No pressure. Just clarity.
Some habits are worth quitting cold turkey.
