Seatbelts and airbags are invented to prevent drivers and passengers from being thrown into windshields, or thrown loose in the vehicle. It’s there as insurance or protection just in case something happens. Same goes with multi-factor authentication. When something big hits, the business is sure relieved and grateful for its existence.

Hackers count on businesses that neglect protecting their identity and access. In fact, the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) said, phishing was the most frequent method used for cybercrime in 2020. It also stated in the report that financial institutions, webmail and social media sectors were the top victims by phishing attacks.

During this moment, businesses can’t just hope and pray that they don’t lose everything (most likely not going to happen) because they were unwilling to secure their identity and access. Being proactive goes a long way!

Now, let’s talk about why multi-factor authentication is valuable yet so underrated.

Digital transformation paved the way for people turning most of their activities online. One of which is financial transactions – people can send and receive money anytime, anywhere and they LOVE it (I am literally emphasizing this). Rather than lining up in queues at banks or any financial centers, you can do financial transactions whenever you want it. It’s fast, easy and convenient.

As for online thieves, this opens opportunities for them to steal. Always remember, they always turn to where opportunities are.

Now, let’s picture a locker with a standard padlock versus a locker with a double locking padlock. Which one will be easier to access? Obviously, it’s locker number one.

Businesses can’t stop online thieves from trying to steal. But having multi-factor authentication places a major deterrent to prevent hacking and being able to secure your identity and access.

How does it work? Well, in a normal scenario, to access an account or application, you need to put in a password to be able to get in. With multi-factor authentication placed, after you put in a password, it will trigger a secondary method of authentication to really confirm that is you trying to login via:

• – Email
• – Soft token
• – Biometrics (facial recognition, fingerprint, voice)

And to have an effective multi-factor authentication you need to combine these measures to validate the identity and access:

1. Something you are. These are unique and constant attributes like your biometrics (facial recognition, fingerprint, iris)
2. Something you know. Knowledge-based information uniquely known by the person such as passwords, personal and family information.
3. Something you have. This utilizes a physical form factor that generates a unique code like tokens, key fobs, and mobile phones – which is the most common one.

Password-only protected accounts are over. This is because there are many ways to get it like a PUBLICLY (okay, that’s scary) available password cracking tool, which contains over 14 million password combinations.

Passwords can’t protect you anymore. Account takeovers have risen in numbers in the last 11 months because of lack of secure authentication measures.

Given that passwords are easily decoded, it is time to utilize multi-actor authentication. Here are three reasons why you should put multi-factor authentication on your business.

1. Reduce password-based cybercrime. Assuming a hacker acquired your password, they can’t gain access to your account, as they do not have the additional layer of authentication (generally something you are and something you have).
2. Improve “human” firewall security. Identity and access is lucrative to the eyes of a cyber criminal, since it’s the front door to get access to the system. Without a tight user authentication, the door is wide open to intruders.
3. Foster zero trust. Drive the “never trust, always check” principle. From the name itself, it ensures that all identity and access requests are verified before allowing any connection.

At Netrust, we want to be riding shotgun to protect your users’ identity and access, and help you drive around the online world with confidence.

Information about our MFA solution can be found here.