Two Factor Authentication

Secure Your Network and Infrastructure with the Use of Two-Factor Authentication

Unfortunately, protecting your sensitive information isn’t as easy as it once was. With phishing and other avenues of attack becoming more and more common, having the right strategies in place on your accounts is the best way to keep unwanted entities off your network and infrastructure. At LinkTech, we suggest enacting two-factor authentication (2FA) on all accounts to help ward off unauthorized access. 

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication is the strategy that combines the use of solid password strategies with an additional authentication measure to ensure any user that is trying to access an account is legitimately doing so. 

Why Use Two-Factor Authentication?

Passwords have been the primary security strategy for many accounts for a long time, but today there is more focus for hackers and scammers to breach these passwords and access accounts. In fact, with literally billions of accounts’ information scraped by hackers and put up for sale on the dark web, many times phishing employees for their passwords isn’t even necessary. Studies have shown that nearly 81 percent of all account breaches come through traditional means of authentication. 

This is why two-factor authentication is so effective. It gives an extra layer of security to an account. Two-factor authentication requires users to use an authentication app or another account (such as an email or device-specific messaging account) in addition to their password to gain access. This removes the need for traditional authentication methods that include asking personal questions. With so many people’s information able to be verified online, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the answers to “What is your mom’s maiden name?” or “What elementary school did you go to?” can be gleaned pretty easily by threat actors looking to access password-protected accounts.  

How Two-Factor Authentication Works

Let’s start with the term “factor.” A factor, in this case, is something that the user knows. As we explained before, some platforms back up their knowledge-based authentication strategy with other knowledge-based questions. This is far less secure than the two-factor authentication we suggest you use. 

Authentic two-factor authentication pairs something you know (in this case, a password) with either “something you have,” “somewhere you are,” or “something you are.” This ensures that you don’t just have to know something about someone to gain access. Examples of “something you have” could be a randomly-generated token from an authentication app on your mobile phone, your mobile device itself, or even an email or messaging account that allows you to get the information needed to sufficiently access the second of the two factors. 

Some two-factor authentication accounts use biometrics, sufficiently answering the “something you are” question for access. The location-based authentication or “somewhere you are” strategy isn’t overly popular. Still, it can be implemented where the system requires a keycard or mobile device on you to gain access to a physical location after a password has been entered. It is a valuable strategy for organizations that need advanced authorization for sensitive physical areas inside their offices.

Enabling Two-Factor Authentication Across Your Organizational Platforms

For an organization utilizing passwords as its primary way of authenticating user access on all their accounts, the prospect of enabling two-factor authentication on all corporate accounts can be overwhelming. The IT security professionals at LinkTech can not only help you get two-factor authentication set up for all your software, but we can also present you with options on how to secure your entire organization with 2FA.

We know that network security shouldn’t be a core focus of your attention, but we also understand with the threat landscape the way it is, you need to be aware and proactive to keep your infrastructure, networks, and data secure. Call us today at (605) 644-7360 and we can lay out the best strategy for your particular situation.