Simply put, Multi Factor Authentication or MFA, sometimes also known as Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is a system of authentication which requires more than one distinct factor to authenticate a user. Once you take a closer look, MFA is fundamentally made up of three authentication factors:
- What you know
- What you have
- Who you are
When one or more of the above factors are used over and above the password, it is called multifactor authentication. Application scenario and risk index usually determine the number of layers to be deployed on top of standard credentials (password) to offer user authentication based on MFA.
Three core Benefits of Multi factor Authentication
Multi factor authentication is the most widely deployed aspect of a comprehensive Identity and Access Management (IAM) system and its application ranges across all digital transactions involving identity exposure. MFA is a watertight method to protect digitally driven businesses across all industry verticals from cyber threats and identity thefts. MFA helps assure user identity (employees, partners and customers) in the nexus of actions that forms a business entity.
Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) enables risk reduction
It won’t be an overstatement to say that deploying MFA is similar to making your business bullet proof against criminal data harvesting, malware attacks and many other threats out there on the network. A weak password today can compromise much more than data and bring down successful business empires which are largely dependent on digital interfaces for their daily operations.
MFA is agile and adaptive
With virtualized operations coming to the fore post pandemic and new normal mandated remote operations on the rise, organizations today have to deal with complex access requests from their workforce as many of them are not on the same network anymore.
Adaptive authentication to the rescue! This feature bundled with MFA evaluates every time an access request for data or application is made by a user. It helps evaluate the threat perception based on location, alien network or the criticality of data request after which it automatically escalates the levels of authentication factors. MFA with Adaptive authentication makes dynamic policy changes based on threat perception and spins up factor(s) from more than 15 modes of MFA available to assure user identity at scale.
MFA is uncompromising on user experience
Passwords can become cumbersome to manage and update on a regular basis. Every time the IT team decides to change passwords on the enterprise level, they become more stringent and complex to remember or maintain. After all this it is still a single point of entry with no added factors of authentication.
MFA ensures users can either choose from a set of factors to safely authenticate their identity or go through the process based on predefined policies set forth by the IT team across the organization. MFA deployment ensures standardization and identity enforcement based on machine learning and adapts as per business requirements.
Learn more about emAS IAM – a bundled Identity management suite powered by adaptive MFA, Single Sign On (SSO) and powerful analytics to deploy custom security landscape across business touchpoints.