Is your data protected only with Firewalls and Antivirus?

Though antivirus and firewall Solutions are your first line of defence against cybercrime, their protection only reaches so far.

 Cybercriminals make a career of accessing sensitive systems and databases. It’s a big business! Data of all kinds, from personal information to intellectual property, can be bought and sold on the dark Web for huge sums of money.

But even choosing a strong password, Passwords Are Not Only Obsolete, but They Are also Useless.

Password reuse is normal. It's extremely risky, but it's so common because it's easy and people are not aware of the potential impact. Attacks such as credential stuffing take advantage of reused credentials by automating login attempts against systems using known emails and password pairs.

This brings to another question, MFA and WHY WE ALL NEED

Whether you just want to meet compliance requirements or you are looking to develop a powerful multi-layered access environment, your organization needs to implement MFA.

Multi-factor authentication is an electronic authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more forms of identity verification before they are allowed access to a website, network or application.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a method of confirming a user's claimed identity in which a computer user is granted access only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism:

knowledge (something the user and only the user knows)

Possession (something the user and only the user has)

Inherence (something the user and only the user is)

In the case of MFA Chain, you can combine several factors of authentication to give the user extra layers of security.

The development of adaptive MFA solutions means that MFA is incredibly inobtrusive to the user. Adaptive MFA allows admins to adapt the level of security needed based on the context of the login attempt. The solution analyses the user’s geographic location and login behaviour (the time and place of login attempt, and the device it was attempted on) so that users are only prompted to use MFA if the login seems suspicious.

Organisations of all shapes and sizes should be concerned about cybersecurity. Hackers are targeting smaller and smaller companies as they’re often softer, underprepared targets. Don’t become the next victim

When used correctly, multi-factor authentication can give you remarkable peace of mind in the battle against hacking and the social engineering behind phishing attempts. What else can be done to verify a user’s identity? How can you make sure that you are only granting access to authorised users?

Here’s the traditional, not secure way to log in to your bank and business account: enter your username and that familiar password you probably use for most of your online accounts. Then, you’re in. You can go about your business. Not so fast! If you’re one of the consumers who, use five or fewer passwords for all of your accounts, you could create a "domino effect" that allows hackers to take down multiple accounts just by cracking one password.

The good news? There’s an easy way to better protect your accounts (which contain a lot of personal information) with multi-factor authentication (MFA). 

What is MFA? MFA is quite simple, and organizations are focusing more than ever on creating a smooth user experience. In fact, you probably already use it in some form. Sometimes referred to as two-factor authentication or 2FA, is a security enhancement that allows you to present two pieces of evidence – your credentials – when logging in to an account. Your credentials fall into three categories: something you know (password or PIN), something (like a smart card), or something you are (your fingerprint, that only identify you as the correct user). Your credentials must come from two different categories to enhance security - so entering two different passwords would not be considered multi-factor. So look at a simple scenario: logging in to your bank account. If you’ve turned on MFA or your bank turned it on for you, things will go a little differently. First and most typically, you’ll type in your username and password. Then, as a second factor, you’ll use an authenticator app, which will generate a one-time code that you enter on the next screen. Then you’re logged in

 When should I use MFA? 

Stopping all online crime is not a realistic goal, but simple steps can massively reduce the likelihood you’ll be the next victim. You should use MFA whenever possible, especially when it comes to your most sensitive data—like your primary email, your financial accounts, and your health records. While some organizations require you to use MFA, many offer it as an extra option that you can enable—but you must take the initiative to turn it on. Furthermore, if a business you interact with regularly, say your health organization, wants to provide you with convenient online access to health records, test results, and invoices, but only offers a password as a way to protect that data, consider saying: ‘no thanks, not until you provide MFA to secure my information.

Be in control of your data, say NO.

SwivelSecure, 2021.