Hackers focus on stealing usernames and passwords to your important systems with the potential of rich financial rewards. Simply relying on passwords to access essential sites and applications is no longer enough. Don’t make it easy for bad actors to steal your important data, implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of being hacked.
MFA begins with the premise that having a username and password as the main access mechanism is no longer secure. MFA includes Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and authentication methods requiring more than two factors (means) to authenticate successfully.
With MFA, you must meet at least two conditions to access your data:
- Something you know
- Something you have
That “something you know” is your username and password, and that “something you have” can come in the form of a code or physical token that, combined with your username and password, will be the key that opens the door to your data. MFA codes have a very short shelf life, and they will change every 30 seconds.
The adoption of MFA has dramatically increased overall security, making it exceedingly difficult for hackers to access your usernames and passwords. Now, they must access your MFA token to obtain an ever-changing code to satisfy the security requirements and grant access to your data.
There are several ways to generate MFA codes, ranging from receiving a text message on your mobile device to receiving your codes via an MFA Authenticator app. For added security, you can have your MFA codes delivered on a physical token connected to your mobile device or computer, like the Yubico Authenticator hardware keys.
Deploying MFA can be annoying, and constantly having to get and enter those 6 to 8-digit codes to access your bank account online, for example, can feel troublesome and restrictive. However, it’s a small price to pay to secure your data. Just think back to when people didn’t lock their homes or automobiles. Now we cannot imagine NOT locking our doors! So consider MFA as that “extra lock” for data security.
To increase security, we highly recommend activating MFA on every site that offers that option. Our team at Masser Technologies can help you manage and deploy MFA authenticators and physical MFA Tokens.
Masser Technologies can help small businesses in El Paso and beyond decipher MFA in today’s managed IT world.
