Dashlane Forces Enterprise Users to Adopt Password Managers

A recent viral post online sparked a debate about the surprising security of physical password journals. The argument was that a book on a shelf is harder to hack than a digital account, suggesting that paper beats code in the race for privacy. While there is some truth to that, most IT leaders still view a well-implemented password manager as a critical line of defense for their organizations.

The problem is that deploying the software is not enough. Many companies find that after the initial excitement fades, employees revert to typing passwords manually. Dashlane is addressing this with a new feature called Vault Enforcement, which uses policy-driven controls to ensure that staff actually use the tool they were given, rather than treating it as an optional convenience.

The adoption gap is a real problem

The so-called adoption gap describes the period where usage drops off after the onboarding phase. IT teams send the initial emails and see good engagement in the first month, but by month six, many users are back to their old habits. This happens because there is often no technical requirement forcing them to use the vault.

Vault Enforcement changes the dynamic by allowing administrators to block access to specific login forms until the user signs in through the Dashlane extension. If an employee tries to log into a covered domain, they will see a warning card on the first attempt. The next day, the form is blocked entirely until they authenticate via the vault. This turns a suggestion into a requirement.

Single sign-on covers only part of the base

Many organizations assume that single sign-on (SSO) solves the credential problem, but the data suggests otherwise. Dashlane reports that 37% of corporate applications are not managed by an identity provider. This means more than a third of the digital surface area still relies on traditional username and password pairs.

The companies most likely to fall into this gap include major platforms like Salesforce, Zoom, and GitHub. Some of this is due to vendors charging extra for SSO integration, a cost many businesses try to avoid. Others are simply legacy systems where old passwords still work alongside newer security layers. For these apps, a password manager is the only defense.

Passkeys are secure but still confusing

Passkeys are widely considered the future of security because they eliminate phishing risks. However, they are also a source of significant user confusion. Employees often do not know where their passkeys are stored or what happens if they lose their device.

This uncertainty leads to avoidance. When users do not understand a security tool, they find ways to bypass it. A control that is easily ignored is not a control at all. By forcing the use of a familiar password manager, Dashlane hopes to bridge the gap between security best practices and actual user behavior. As reported by 9to5Mac, this approach acknowledges that a decade of education has not been enough to change habits without technical enforcement.