A robust security infrastructure is based on the user’s permissions and two-factor authentication. They reduce the risk of accidental or malicious insider activities, minimize the impact of data breaches and ensure the compliance of regulatory authorities.
Two factor authentication (2FA) is a process which requires the user to enter a credential in two categories to sign into an account. This could be something the user is familiar with (passwords, PIN codes or security questions) or something click to find out more they own (one-time verification code that is sent to their mobile or an authenticator application) or something they are (fingerprints or a face scan, or retinal scan).
Often the 2FA is a subset of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) that has more than two. MFA is a common requirement in certain industries, such as healthcare (because of stringent HIPAA regulations) as well as e-commerce and banking. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the importance of security in organizations that require two-factor authentication.
Enterprises are living organisms and their security infrastructures are constantly evolving. Users are changing roles as do hardware capabilities and complex systems are accessible to users. It’s important to regularly reevaluate your two-factor authentication method at regular intervals to make sure that it’s up to date with the changes. The adaptive authentication method is one way to achieve this. It’s a type of contextual authentication, which will trigger policies based on the date, time and location at which the login request is received. Duo provides an administrator dashboard centrally that lets you easily monitor and set these types of policies.