With data breaches and cybercrime continuing to rise, two-factor authentication (2FA) has seen a sharp rise in use and popularity as a means of protection!
According to the University of Maryland, hackers attack every 39 seconds, which amounts to 2,244 attempted attacks globally every single day. Security breaches have increased by 11% since 2018 and 67% since 2014 but how can businesses help protect themselves?
2FA is the simple process of double-checking that a login request has really come from you, by confirming the login with you through a separate application.
This is essential to web security because it immediately neutralizes risks associated with compromised passwords. It ensures that a password is no longer enough to give an intruder access: without approval at the second factor, a password alone is useless.
The process of 2FA can work in several ways from an alert on your 2FA app such as Duo, a passcode being emailed to a separate account, a push notification sent to your registered mobile number, or a telephone call back.
Never has 2FA been more needed than in the current climate. The impact of COVID-19 upon remote working has seen a sudden and sharp increase in this added security as businesses have acknowledged the need to improve security practices to support the mass migration to home working.
According to Duo, 2FA usage has been steadily rising over the last few years. Witnessing growth of 28% in 2017, jumping to a 53% increase in 2019 – understandably this has continued to grow throughout 2020 in part as a direct result of remote working.
2FA is now extremely common on our personal applications with 68% of 18-34 year olds using a 2FA service on a regular basis. And organizations are now following suit putting 2FA into their security practices for access to corporate data.
Here at M247 we wanted to improve our own security practices and looked to implement a 2FA service in 2019 in line with industry trends. M247 staff members are now able to use their non-company smartphones to authenticate their accounts. 2FA services are essential to running our business securely and safely in the modern digital world.
