What's That Term?: Multi-Factor Authentication
The IT industry is technical and complicated, but it doesn’t have to be impossible to understand. In conversations with our clients and end users, we try to break down IT lingo into easy to understand terminology. Our What’s That Term? Series offers definitions for some of the most common words and terms in today's technology vocabulary.
Multi-factor Authentication.
You’ve likely heard this term, and it’s even more likely that you’ve utilized this security measure.
What is it?
Multi-Factor Authentication, also known as MFA, is a security system that verifies a user’s identity by requiring multiple credentials. Rather than just asking for a username and password, MFA requires additional credentials - or multiple factors - to verify it’s really you trying to access sensitive data.
Examples of Multi-Factor Authentication include using a combination of these elements to authenticate:
Codes generated by smartphone apps
Badges, USB devices, or other physical devices
Soft tokens, certificates
Fingerprints
Codes sent to an email address
Facial recognition
Retina or iris scanning
Behavioral analysis
Risk score
Answers to personal security questions
MFA is an effective way to provide enhanced security. Traditional usernames and passwords can be easily stolen or hacked, but MFA creates multiple layers of security to make unauthorized access more difficult. With MFA, a cybercriminal may steal one credential but will likely be unable to access the second necessary credential.
Why You’ve Heard It
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of people to stay home worldwide, many employers had to pivot to a remote work strategy for their employees. This new work-from-home posture opened organizations up to new security vulnerabilities, and cybercriminals couldn’t wait to take advantage of that.
A fairly effective, and simple, strategy for mitigating this risk is to enable Multi-factor Authentication for all employees wherever possible. So, you likely heard this term when you had to switch from simply using a password to access your company email, to using facial recognition or needing to enter a secondary code.
Multi-Factor Authentication continues to grow in popularity and ease of use, so it is likely a term you’ll continue to hear for a long time.
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