Connectivity is a boon, but it doesn’t take a lot to turn this boon into bane. Be it the storage of customer data, bank account information, social security numbers or keeping up internal operations, the majority of a company’s operations today are performed online.
One direct consequence of this is the resulting vulnerability from security threat. Cybercrime has increased exponentially and simple password based security is just not doing it anymore, incurring a substantial amount of loss to most of companies. Data breaches have led companies to violate their customers’ trust, resulting in permanent data loss (for both employees and customers), and has led to complete system breakdown. All of these cyber attacks have proved that the password is no longer an effective solution.
In addition to that, the advancements in remote access enabled employees to work from far away locations. But then it created more touchpoints that are loose ends vulnerable to cyber attacks. The cybercrimes today are so advanced that a single nook of the entirely secure system would take the best-protected system down. Remote access, on the other hand, demands a highly secure network, which is nearly impossible to be attained, especially when the systems are accessed through unknown networks. This has prompted users to develop more robust solutions, and the result is Multifactor Authentication.
Multifactor Authentication has three predominant factors: Knowledge factor– Something the user knows, essentially a code or a pattern created by the user. Possession factor– Something the user has, such as a smart card, magnetic stripe card, one-time SMS code, or hardware key fob. Inherence factor—Something the user is, using technology, user identity is confirmed by validating their fingerprint, voiceprint, iris, or other unique physical feature. The authenticated user gets access only when all the factors are satisfied. Based on the statistics by Gartner, the adoption of Multifactor Authentication is expected to increase from 10 percent to over 70 percent by 2024, a mirror that reflects how important MAF is in upcoming years.
Though it is one of the most effective security solutions today, it cannot be considered a silver bullet for all future attacks. The system has loopholes where phishing and modification of hardware devices is still possible which could cause potential attacks. Many solution providers of the sector are bringing up innovative factors that are more foolproof as they provide extra layers of security, banning the use of weak passwords and blocking legacy authentication.
To identify the best of Multi-factor Authentication solution providers, a distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, VCs, industry analysts, and the Enterprise Security magazine editorial panel have reviewed the most promising Multifactor Authentication Solution Providers.
We present to you Enterprise Security magazine's "Top 10 Multifactor Authentication Solution Providers-2020."
