Cyber attackers are relentless. They hunt, phish, scam, and social-engineer everybody including privileged users to infiltrate your organization. Once inside, they look for opportunities to elevate privilege and appropriate resources. Every app is vulnerable. Without controlling cloud and on-prem application access, organizations are at risk of a security breach.
Two-factor authentication helps thwart attacks and protect corporate data, as a key identity and access management (IAM) solution
Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an additional layer of security when users login to apps. Without additional authentication, users are asked to prove their identity by providing simple credentials such as an email address and a password. With 2FA, they are asked for a second factor (2F), usually by prompting the user to provide information via a physical token (i.e. a card) or a security question whose answer only they know. US Federal regulations recognize the following authentication factor options:
Having an additional authentication factor prevents someone from signing into a user’s account—even if they know the user’s password. Other factors are needed because passwords, by themselves, just aren’t safe. They can be compromised in a number of ways:
That’s why more factors help. If authentication requires both a password and, say, a USB token with a digital certificate on it, a criminal would need to know the user’s credentials and be in possession of the USB token in order to sign into the user’s account. Without being in possession of both, any unauthorized access would fail and trigger a security event to let the admin know of a suspicious login attempt.
Authentication can be made even stronger by combining additional identity and access management (IAM) factors to achieve multi-factor authentication (MFA). Multi-factor authentication allows you to add factors like a PKI certificate in the user’s browser or require a mobile app for authentication. And products like OneLogin Desktop increase security via an on-laptop certificate that delivers a second factor of authentication in the form of a trusted device.
There are a variety of second authentication factors that can be used for 2FA to secure application access. Here are some examples:
See how Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) helps to prevent some of the most common and successful types of cyber attacks
LearnFind out how SSO and MFA together are key to protecting your tech company’s corporate data and intellectual property.
Download the PaperAre there similarities between the defenses of the Night’s Watch and those of cybersecurity teams in the real world? You be the judge.
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