Securing your online accounts, data, financials, personal information, and more for your business has never been as important as it is now. Your business needs to have a strategy in place to do this, especially now that many of us are working hybrid or remotely.

Now more than ever, your employees and your business are vulnerable to phishing scams, cyberattacks, and data breaches.

One of the easiest and more effective ways to protect your business data is to utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA provides an additional layer of protection to your online accounts.

What is Multi-Factor Authentication?

MFA is an authentication method used to verify a user using more than one identifier. MFA will increase the security on any of your accounts as it requires the user to provide two or more verification factors. MFA has been found to decrease the likelihood of cyberattacks, phishing scams, and data breaches significantly.

IT professionals agree that MFA is one of the most effective forms of cybersecurity and should be the standard moving forward.

Types of Multi-Factor Authentication

There are multiple ways for a user to verify their identity, which is why multi-factor authentication can be a quick, easy and effective solution to cybersecurity concerns. MFA might utilize the following forms of authentication.

What You Know

This will include asking for things like a password, PIN, or security questions. These forms of authentication can be effective as they are open-ended and there is an endless possibility of answers. As long as you’re creating strong passwords and storing and managing them safely, utilizing a password keeper if necessary, these factors can be hard to guess.

People run into problems when they use weak passwords (your dog’s name) or utilize the same password across multiple platforms.

What You Have

Utilizing items you have in your possessions such as a phone, software, or email can be extremely effective in stopping hackers. It is unlikely that someone has been able to steal both your password and your phone. This method may look like entering a password then entering a code sent via text message to your phone or clicking an authentication button within an email.

What You Are

One of the most secure forms of authentication utilizes who you are as an individual. This includes fingerprint, voice recognition, or face recognition. We have seen this implemented in Smartphones worldwide.

Where You Are

Location can be used as a more advanced form of authentication. This method will look at a user’s IP address and geographical location. If you are trying to access information from a different location than normal another form of authentication such as a pin may be requested.

These days, cybersecurity must be taken seriously to protect your business accounts and assets. If this is something you feel your business is lacking, contact our team for IT support and cybersecurity in Dayton, Ohio.

Through an IT and cybersecurity audit, we can assess where your business may be vulnerable and help you set up the proper security measures, such as multi-factor authentication, to protect your data.