Two-Factor Authentication: The Future of Security
In today’s society, security is becoming a growing concern for both organizations and citizens alike. Hackers become better at what they do every day which has led to many companies being on their heels at all times, struggling to keep a leg up on these hackers. Having a username and password isn’t enough for the critical systems in your and your organization’s life. Something needs to change. Two-factor authentication is a welcome addition in the day in age when you don’t know any more if and how long your passwords are safe. Two-Factor Authentication (also called 2FA), is a security feature with growing popularity, and rightfully so, that requires the user to not only login with a username and password but also have some second requirement like possession of an object (like the users cell phone) or some bio-metric recognition (fingerprint or face recognition.) In the cyber-security realm, these are known as ‘something you have’ or ‘something you are’ (and usernames/passwords would be ‘something you know’). Since a piece of information or object is required that only the user would have, it is much more difficult to hack than a standard username and password login. This a technique that you have probably used yourself without even realizing! For example, when you insert your debit card into an ATM, it not only requires your physical card (something you have) but also your pin number (something you know). For example, when my intern recently tried to watch HBO on his Roku TV, he was required to sign into his HBO account and also verify a security code that was sent to his cellphone. Two-factor authentication is becoming standard not only in our everyday home lives (do we really need it for premium channels?), but in our professional lives as well.
According to a study done by Duo Security it is estimated that around 6% of Google users were using 2FA by 2015. Two-factor authentication was a part of the National Cyber Security Awareness Campaign as well, so it is surely something that will see an increase in popularity in the future. Two locks on the door of your house is safer than one – or let us say two types of locks on the door, and now the same can be said for our online belongings.
If you have any questions on how Two-factor authentication could help reassure you and your business, please reach out to us at (518) 320-8906.