With increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, our online accounts are no longer safe with a single password . Years ago, most accounts were secure with a username and password combination but cyberthreats like phishing attempts, brute force attacks, and credential stuffing, to name just a few, have made it easy for criminals to bypass these minimal security protocols.

In 2022 alone, 24 billion user credentials were stolen according to Norton, and over 80% of basic web application attacks occur as a result of stolen passwords. That’s why multi-factor authentication needs to be a vital part of your identity and access management (IAM) policy.

What is Multifactor Authentication (MFA)?

Although MFA has long been adopted by organisations including banks, social media, and Microsoft365, small businesses have been slow on the uptake. According to the Cyber Readiness Institute, 30% of small to medium businesses don’t understand multi-factor authentication and 54% don’t use MFA of any kind. This is a worrying sign in terms of cybersecurity for small businesses.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides an additional layer of protection typically made of two factors (2FA) although it can be scaled up to 3, 4 or even 5 factors for advanced protection.

MFA layers on top of your normal password  making it difficult for criminals to gain unauthorised access to your accounts. There are three common types of ‘factors’ that enable multi-factor authentication

• The first is something you remember such as a username and password
• The second is an item that you have access to such as a smartphone or a USB key
• The third is biometrical and can include your fingerprint or facial recognition

Multifactor authentication is easy to set up and once you have completed the first sign-in you usually won’t be promoted to enter it again unless the service provider deems it necessary,  or if regular reauthentication is part of your IT strategy.

Do I need Multifactor Authentication?

Multifactor authentication can be used across most online services from business to personal and everything in between. When thinking about cybersecurity for small business, enabling MFA is one of the easiest ways to protect your accounts. MFA is proven to block a huge 99.9% of modern automated cyberattacks and 96% of bulk phishing attempts.

Choosing not to enable multifactor authentication leaves huge gaps in your cybersecurity. MFA blocks unauthorised access to accounts, so even if bad actors have the correct username and password, they’re missing the essential second factor required for access.

IT Support from Softext

If you’re ready to use multifactor authentication within your organisation, we can help. Our experienced team of IT support technicians will help you identify the areas where MFA can be used and set it up for you.

Contact us today for a no-obligation IT support quote, we can help you with all aspects of IT and software support.