A solid security infrastructure is based on the user’s permissions and two-factor authentication. They reduce the risk of malicious insider activities or accidental data breaches and help ensure regulatory compliance.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires a user to enter credentials from two distinct categories in order to log into an account. This could be something the user is familiar with (password or PIN code, security question) or something they own (one-time verification passcode sent to their phone or an authenticator app) or something they are (fingerprint or face, retinal scan).
2FA is usually a subset of Multi-Factor Authentication that has more than two components. MFA is typically a requirement in certain industries, like healthcare (because of stringent HIPAA regulations), ecommerce, and banking. The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought new urgency to security for businesses that require two-factor authentication for remote workers.
Enterprises are living organisms and their security infrastructures are continuously changing. New access points are created every day, users are assigned roles, hardware capabilities develop and complex systems end up in the hands of users every day. It is important to review your two-factor authentication strategy regularly to ensure it keeps pace with these changes. One method to do this is to use adaptive authentication, which is a kind of contextual authentication that will trigger policies based on how, when and where a login request is received. Duo offers a centralized administrator dashboard that allows you to easily manage and set these kinds of policies.
