Prioritize Phishing Protection In Your Security Strategy: Part 5 – Multi-Factor Authentication
Passwords. Ten years ago passwords were a great way to protect people and information, but technology isn’t the same as it was ten years ago. Although passwords and other encryption methods continue to become more complex, so do the skills and technology of cyber-criminals.
Veridium said it best in an article about passwords and multi-factor authentication- “Computers don’t know when a password has been compromised, it just grants access to whoever enters it. This lack of proof of identity is an obvious flaw in passwords today.”
One simple solution (and a huge step forward in protecting yourself and your information) is multi-factor authentication (MFA). Having to authenticate your identity multiple times is a great way to prevent hackers from making their way into your account with a stolen password. Think about it – even if they discover your password – if they have to enter a 6-digit token that was sent to your phone number, then chances are they aren’t going to be able to bypass that. AND you are going to be notified about the attempted breach via your phone.
Unfortunately, MFA has a bad rep and a lot of organizations choose not to enable this powerful tool. Why? Because their users complain about the nuisance and frustration of having to take an extra step when logging in. Luckily, it is slowly becoming a compliance requirement in a lot of industries.
So what MFA integration do we prefer as IT professionals? Our team uses Duo Two-Factor Authentication to add that extra layer of security when logging in. Duo is a great solution for businesses of all sizes that need to protect sensitive information.
There are lots of good MFA solutions out there! Do yourself and your company a favor by requiring multi-factor authentication!
Did you miss the other parts of our Phishing Protection Series? Catch up below.
Part 1: Prioritize Phishing Overview
Part 2: Email Content Security
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