What is MFA?

So lets talk about MFA, and no not a Master of Fine Arts.

We’re talking about multi-factor authentication. So what does that mean? You might be more familiar with “two factor authentication”, which is a subset of multi factor authentication. Essentially multi factor authentication is a process where the person signing into an account must present two or more forms of proof that the person logging in is the intended user.This can be as simple as a text or call to your phone, an email, security questions, all that fun stuff. So why do we use this?

This prevents bad guys from gaining access to your information by just having your password. Think of all the things you do once you enter your password. You pay bills, connect to servers, share data, online shop, post pictures of your dog, and all you did was enter your password. So, if a bad guy gets your password they can do everything you can do, but in a bad guy way.

So multifactor authentication is another layer of security beyond a password to keep out those bad guys. There are many ways to introduce additional authentication methods such as a physical device like a fob, or software that can be installed on your phone or other device. Some common examples include:

• fingerprints

• facial recognition

• voice recognition

Just something that can not be replicated by the bad guys.

You should have MFA required to access to any critical corporate data, information, applications, cloud services, computers, buildings, safes, cookie jars, anything important you want to keep the bag guys out of. When inappropriate access to any of your resources would cause harm to you or your stakeholders, MFA is one of best first lines of defenses.

And hey a lot of cloud services like Microsoft Office 365 have MFA built in, so all you have to do is activate and configure it. If you think it might be inconvenient, or a pain, and that you can't log on, or it's an extra step, that's kind of the idea. Because if it is hard for you it’s hard for the bad guys too. 

Contact us for more information on setting up MFA.