Infallible as trusted platforms may seem to end-users, cybersecurity is obviously an ever-growing concern in today’s digital universe. While identity theft issues in particular have been of concern for many years, their frequency has soared in the past few.
According to the National Council on Identity Theft Protection, there were 5.7 million total fraud and identity theft reports in 2021, 1.4 million of which were consumer identity theft cases. Losses from identity theft cost Americans $5.8 billion in 2021. In 2021 alone, $2.8 billion of losses were from imposter scams and $392 million were from consumer online shopping. If all that was not mind-boggling enough, fraud cases are currently up a whopping 70% from 2020. The cherry on top: experts believe there is a new victim of identity theft every 22 seconds, and that the frequency is only increasing.
While these numbers are indeed alarming, it’s worth understanding that the idea of hackers as individual criminals conducting one-off attacks is entirely outdated. The reality is that hackers are often organized into corporation-like entities and employ hundreds (if not thousands) of people to employ malware or phishing techniques in large scale attacks. These hacking entities even employ servers to scan people’s credit cards and have call centers set up to persuade people to volunteer their personal information.
Moral of the story: thanks to a wider and more powerful range of identity theft methods, compromised credentials and passwords are absolutely still a prime entry point for scammers, identity thieves and many other types of malicious actors — and it’s getting worse. Suffice it to say, identity and access management are incredibly important.
Enter multi-factor authentication (MFA).
What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and How Does it Help Keep User Accounts Safe?
You’ve probably encountered MFA countless times by now, both professionally and personally. While many end-users might find the whole affair to be a lot of overkill, MFA can significantly increase business security.
MFA is the process of requiring more than one form of identification or verification prior to allowing someone to access secure information.
If MFA is in play, the user will typically enter their login credentials and then receive a text, call or email which contains a random code or one-time password (OTP). They must then enter this code to verify their identity and ensure access. Alternatives to MFA include entering a memorized PIN or submitting to a biometric reading such as facial recognition.
The basic idea is that the more forms of authentication one has in place, the less likely it is that passwords or private credentials will be compromised. Ultimately, MFA can make account theft far more challenging, which is why some industries have legal regulations making it a business requirement.
Why MFA is a Good Idea for Businesses of All Sizes
Owners of small to medium-sized businesses may be doubtful that their organization could really be a target. The assumption is often that larger corporations like The New York Times, Twitter, Facebook and Apple (to name just a few) are seen as more worthwhile targets for hackers.
Unfortunately, this is inaccurate. Small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals than larger companies. On average, an employee of a small business with fewer than 100 employees will experience 350% more social engineering attacks than an employee at a larger enterprise.
The fact that small businesses often fail to adequately protect themselves makes them extra vulnerable, extra valuable targets.
How to Implement MFA
You may have toyed with the idea of implementing different MFA solutions, whether for your own business or for clients. Ultimately, multi-factor authentication should be enabled on any and all tools which contain critical information pertaining to your business. That said, since enabling MFA can sometimes create issues for third-party software, always be sure to check with your team before implementation so you can stay ahead of any potential issues.
The good news: most tools now offer you an MFA option — all you have to do is decide how to best align its use with the needs of your business. Be it via phone or email verification, or an authentication app, enabling MFA is a sure-fire way to make your business environment a whole lot safer!
While multi-factor authentication may seem over-the-top or inconvenient to some, in today’s immense digital world, it’s inarguably become a baseline precaution. If you’re concerned that implementing MFA might temporarily disrupt some aspects of user workflow or be seen as annoying by your staff, it’s important to recognize that ultimately, it’s a difference-maker.
Multi-factor authentication is a simple yet powerful security precaution that can help you sleep better at night knowing you’ve done everything possible to keep your vital data safe from phishing attacks and inaccessible to unauthorized users.
Take Your Cybersecurity Offerings to the Next Level
Looking for more cybersecurity guidance and resources? Ready to implement multi-factor authentication but not sure where to start? Explore Sherweb’s full portfolio of solutions or check out our Partner Guide for additional ways we can offer your business increased security and support.
Guest blog courtesy of Sherweb. Read more Sherweb guest blogs here. Regularly contributed guest blogs are part of MSSP Alert’s sponsorship program.
