Multi Factor Authentication is more important than ever!

In these scary times of hackers targeting all individuals and businesses, it is more important than ever to up the ante in the security department and do all you can to keep yourself safe from a cyber-attack. With the recent announcement of possible changes in legislation, businesses could face astronomical fines for not providing relevant protection for their clients and clients' data.

An integral part of The Essential 8 is to introduce multiple layers of protection, such as authentication, for all logins. In the past we have talked about Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) but this blog hopes to reinforce how it can protect you and why you should use these tools to keep your business safe.

MFA is a simple way to enhance your organisation's security as it forces users to identify themselves with more than a username and password. Hackers might manage to steal one proof of identity such as your PIN, but with MFA in place, they would need access to your authentication module to gain access to any accounts.

Adding MFA will make it harder for a hacker to access your accounts, thus reducing the risk of email account phishing, payment redirection and spoofed emails as well as the scams we mentioned in our recent blog, Five new ways scammers are targeting you. Apart from your data or finances being taken advantage of, insurance companies are now cracking down on cyber security and requiring businesses to have relevant business practices in place before approving cover.

Methods of MFA include:

• Physical token
• Random pin
• Biometrics/fingerprint
• Authenticator app
• Email
• SMS

As a cyber aware company, Loyal I.T. Solutions prefers to use the authenticator application for our accounts, as these types of applications use an algorithm linked to your device to continually generate random numerical codes that expire/renew every 30 seconds. Text messages, unlike authentication apps, rely on your phone number, which is more vulnerable to a criminal attack.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has some free documents to help you with protecting your basic social media accounts, get them from here.

To learn more or to enquire about enabling MFA for your business, call us on 02 4337 0700 or email quotes@loyalit.com.au.