As cyber criminals discover new ways to harvest login credentials, usernames and passwords have become less effective at keeping malicious users at bay.
Research shows there are over 15 billion stolen login credentials on the dark web, which criminals routinely use to steal sensitive information from modern organizations.
With such a high volume of data breaches and credential theft, the need to go beyond traditional password verification to prevent unauthorized access arises.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is emerging as one of the most effective solutions, requiring users to submit multiple authentication factors before accessing sensitive information.
It’s also one of the most popular authentication options available to enterprises, with the market projected to reach $23.5 billion by 2026. This article will examine what multi-factor authentication is and why it’s critical for cyber security leaders to use it to protect employees.
What is Multi-Factor Authentication, and How Does it Work?
In its simplest terms, multi-factor authentication is an authentication model that requires a user to present two or more verification factors to confirm their identity before accessing an online account or application.
Instead of asking for only a username and password to verify a user’s identity, MFA requires additional verification information such as a one-time passcode, cryptographic token, or fingerprint.
The most popular multi-factor authentication technique today is sending a one-time PIN (OTP) to the user’s phone number. This code is randomly generated in real-time and, therefore, difficult for the hacker to access or guess.
For instance, a typical account service using multi-factor authentication with two-factor authentication will ask you to log in with two authentication factors: your email and password and a one-time code that’s sent to your email address or cell phone.
Users can set up a multi-factor authentication system to generate alerts whenever questionable login attempts are detected, improving security measures and response for the user.
There are three main types of authentication factors you can use to verify users:
- Something you know – Information the user knows like a password or pin number.
- Something you have – Something only the user possesses, like their smartphone or a cryptographic token.
- Something you are – Something unique to the user like a fingerprint, voice, Face ID, or other biometric data.
Generally, the more factors you use as part of a multi-factor authentication process, the less likely an unauthorized user can gain access to sensitive information It’s important to note that some service providers and organizations will only use multi-factor authentication where a user acts suspiciously or fails a primary authentication process.
What is Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication?
Adaptive multi-factor authentication, also called risk-based authentication, is an advanced security technique that requires a user to provide two or more verification factors in order to gain access to their accounts.
It’s referred to as “adaptive” because the mechanism can adjust the required authentication factors based on various risks, including the location of the user, the type of device, the time of access, network security, and user behavior patterns.
Unlike traditional multi-factor authentication, which requires the same factors regardless of the situation, adaptive multi-factor authentication can vary the authentication requirements.
For example, if a user is logging in from a new location or an unrecognized device, the system will ask for additional factors to verify their identity, such as a one-time passcode or fingerprint verification.
Adaptive multi-factor authentication enhances the security of the user’s account by using multiple factors and adapting them to the context, making it harder for hackers to gain access.
How Multi-Factor Authentication Protects Your Organization’s Data
Multi-factor authentication provides additional protection to an enterprise’s data by verifying that each user is who they say they are. Using multi-factor authentication provides enterprises with a reliable solution for authenticating all users connected to your applications and services, reducing the chance of unauthorized access and data breaches. The main benefits of multi-factor authentication are that it can:
- Make it more difficult for cyber criminals to commit identity theft
- Prevent cyber criminals from using stolen credentials effectively
- Reduces the chance of data breaches
In other words, multi-factor authentication reduces the likelihood of unauthorized users accessing sensitive information and using it for malicious purposes, which reduces your exposure to theft and regulatory liabilities.
It’s important to note that while multi-factor authentication doesn’t completely eliminate the chance of unauthorized access, it does help in reducing exposure to threats by providing an extra layer of security.
For instance, Microsoft research shows that 99.9 percent of compromised accounts did not use multi-factor authentication.
The reason for this is that without multi-factor authentication in place, a cyber criminal only needs to obtain a user’s login credentials. Then, they can break into an email account or application and have access to all of the sensitive information within that solution.
Multi-factor authentication also protects applications and services from credential-stuffing attacks in case the passwords are reused by users and compromised on another system.
Using Multi-Factor Authentication to Protect Your Team
Taking small steps and combining two-factor authentication alongside security awareness training ensures that employees are educated on selecting strong passwords and have authentication factors to keep out unwanted intruders.
Encourage your employees to leverage two-factor or two-step verification processes even for their personal online accounts.
Ultimately, multi-factor authentication will help ensure that, even if an employee does make the mistake of selecting a weak password, they have another method of authentication in place to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to private or proprietary data.
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