Why aren’t passwords good enough?
There are no signs that cybercrime is slowing down!
Using passwords is better than having no protection, but they’re not foolproof. Here’s why:
Humans have lousy memories. Billions of stolen passwords are embarrassingly simple. Such as “123456,” “qwerty,” and “password.” Easy to remember, but easy to hack.
Too many accounts. More accounts create more passwords to remember and creates a dangerous habit: password recycling. Hackers love this. Recycled usernames and passwords make it easier to unlock all your accounts.
Security fatigue. Creating more complex passwords may help. But with so many data breaches flooding the dark web with user information, many just give up and fall back to using weak passwords across multiple accounts.
2FA To the Rescue!
Two-Factor Authentication or 2FA is the simplest, most effective way to verify that your users are who they say they are. First, a user will enter their username and a password. Then, before gaining access, they will be required to provide a second piece of information. This second factor could come from one of these categories:
- Something you know: A PIN, a password, answers to “secret questions” or a keystroke pattern.
- Something you have: A smart device, or a small hardware token.
- Something you are: A fingerprint, an iris scan, or a voice print.
The most common 2FA systems use a unique one-time code that is tied to your account and generated by a token, smart device, or SMS message. The more secure form of 2FA uses a mobile app to send an approval notification to your smart device.
By integrating 2FA with your applications, attackers are unable to access your accounts without possessing your physical device. Even stronger is multi-factor authentication, which requires more than two factors before account access will be granted.
Want to learn more about 2FA? Contact Impress Computers https://www.impresscomputers.com/