Yelp Improved Their Password Security by Using LastPass

Customer overview

Yelp connects people with great local businesses. Yelp users have contributed over 200 million reviews of almost every type of local business, from restaurants, boutiques, and salons to dentists, mechanics, plumbers, and more. Their business revolves around the connections between consumers who read and write reviews and the local businesses they describe.

LastPass allows Yelp to protect the credentials of all applications or tools, regardless if they are under IT management or not. The LastPass administrative features provide Yelp visibility and control over the password hygiene of our business, while being easy to use and reliable. Engineering Manager, Application and Client Platform Engineering, Yelp

Challenge

Yelp allows its employees to use the applications and tools required to be as productive as possible. With that flexibility, however, came the risks of shadow IT – the use of software unapproved by the IT department.

To allow their employees to maintain flexibility with application use, the IT department needed to ensure that security remained a priority while login information for applications and tools outside the IT department’s purview was still being kept secure.

Simultaneously, Yelp noticed that its employees kept track of their passwords using various insecure methods. Yelp required an enterprise-ready password management solution that would allow them to promote strong password hygiene among their employees while having administrative insight and control to ensure security best practices were in place.

Solution

Yelp chose LastPass as their password management solution as LastPass offered enterprise-ready features that were easy for employees to use. With LastPass, the IT department could provide their employees the flexibility to use the required applications or tools while ensuring that passwords to all applications and tools remain secure.

From the IT administrator perspective, the LastPass security policies provided comprehensive custom configuration for granular control of Yelp’s password health. “The security policies such as ‘preventing sharing outside of the organization’ and ‘master password length’ gave us needed visibility and control,” shared Bryan Shields. In addition, advanced features such as directory integrations simplified the provisioning and deprovisioning of employees.

For employees, LastPass promotes strong password hygiene through its ability to store, generate, and share passwords securely. Password sharing has benefited teams where multiple members must login to the same account. With LastPass, the IT department can maintain visibility over shared accounts through audits to ensure that they remain a more secure company overall.

Results

Yelp provided LastPass accounts for all employees across their entire organization. By promoting LastPass through events such as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and building LastPass into their new hire onboarding process, Yelp has received positive feedback and strong adoption from its employees.

With LastPass, the IT department knows that their employees have a secure method for managing passwords outside the control of admins. This security provides peace of mind for the organization against potential data breaches while allowing employees the flexibility to use the applications or tools their job requires.

Finally, with the support of their customer success manager, Yelp receives insight into the product roadmap and opportunities to provide LastPass feedback through events, such as the Customer Advisory Board.