As we have mentioned many times in this blog, passwords aren’t enough to keep our data safe. This is especially true in corporate, where countless malicious agents are constantly trying to steal data from companies and profit from it.
Passwords are the first, most superficial layer of cybersecurity that is available to protect our information and they simply don’t meet the current standards.
Multi-factor authentication, which was considered as optional, additional security, has become mandatory these days. Businesses are investing happily to implement these mechanisms to protect their infrastructures. In the end, it’s the cheapest option as data breaches cost much more.
In the following lines, we’ll dedicate a few words to multi-factor authentication, how it works, and what options modern businesses do have.
How Multi-Factor Authentication Works?
You have likely been using multi-factor authentication in many of your online services for a while now.
For example, banks now use them to add an extra layer of security when it comes to online web apps and mobile apps access. Need to click on a confirmation link sent to your email or introduce a secret code sent to your phone number via SMS before transferring money between accounts? If so, you have been using two-factor authentication.
If you are an Apple user, you may be familiar with the company’s strict multi-factor authentication to access your Apple ID account, cloud storage, or any of their online services. Here, they ask you for a secret code sent to one of your authorized devices. The process can be demanding but takes security to the next level.
In theory, a multi-factor (or two-factor) authentication requires a second piece of information before accessing the account or device. It doesn’t only rely on the main key, which often is a traditional password.
This model of cybersecurity is ideal for the mobile, cross-platform professional era, where teams are on the go and use several devices and online services to get the work done.
The Options Your Business Has
Multi-factor authentication methods that are being widely implemented at corporate to protect accounts, databases, and work devices are:
- Code-based SMS, email, and voice call confirmation
- Push notification with “yes/no” request (think on Google’s secure login methods)
- Hardware token or key fob
- Software token
There are more “physical” methods being used by companies with special security needs as fingerprints, face, and retina scans.
The list above includes considerably accessible options. Following this line of thought, multi-factor authentication is about to get mandatory by law for corporate as the need to protect data become more and more relevant (think of any recent data breach scandals).One major benefit in implementing multi-factor authentication for corporate is increased awareness of the real threats. While having properly implemented mechanisms allow users to securely login into their accounts and devices, multi-factor authentication also works to detect malicious attempts on time and report both the user and the IT professional of the threat. When the authentication fails, systems are designed to trigger the proper alarms and get the team on it.