Major organizations in many different verticals such as healthcare, finance and education are updating their data storage and record management systems to provide remote access to information over a network or across the internet. Although security is often present in many of these systems, many of the security methods, such as static usernames and passwords, are weak and are not sufficient to protect against such as phishing, man in the middle attacks, malware and other types of fraud attacks.
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Static usernames and passwords are easy to compromise, forget and lose for many users. Username and password combinations have been considered a standard for authorizing users online for a long time and many users are comfortable with this type of method of security. Standards across many industries have been created to enforce stronger security measures for remote access to sensitive information. As access to this sensitive data continues to grow and becomes more widespread, stronger security measures must be implemented across industries to protect the privacy and integrity of information. Stronger authentication methods such as two factor authentication have been used to combat the increasing amount of fraud attacks and have become a standard of authorization in many industries such as healthcare and finance. Two factor authentication methods such as using a login,
or something you know, and a one-time password through a mobile device, or something you have, is a much more secure way of authenticating a user that is authorized to access data remotely. Unauthorized users trying to access sensitive data will be thwarted from their efforts because even if they have one factor of authentication, they will not have the second factor of authentication to access the sensitive data.
With phishing, malware and online fraud increasing, static usernames and passwords are not enough to protect against attacks and can easily be compromised. With static passwords, even if you change your login credentials often, it does not guarantee that fraudulent attacks will be prevented and access to sensitive information can still be jeopardized. Utilizing two factor authentication greatly reduces the chance of fraud attacks and enhances your security process of authenticating authorized users.
Strong two factor authentication solutions which use one-time passwords and utilize out-of-band networks offer an even stronger level of security because a dynamic password can be sent from a different channel than the primary channel requesting the password. For example, an authorized user is accessing their online banking statement and uses a login, something they know, and a one-time password is sent to their mobile phone which utilizes a separate channel (mobile network) and is also the second factor of authentication,
which is something they have (mobile phone). Two factor authentication utilizing an out of band authentication method improves the security process because the password verifying the user is sent from a separate network which decreases the chance of attacks such as man in the middle attacks, malware and phishing attacks. Using multiple networks to authenticate an authorized user makes it more difficult for fraud attacks to occur and lessons the likelihood of data being intercepted. Like any security solution, two factor authentication is not a bulletproof authentication solution to fraud attacks, but it's one of the most effective ways to authenticate users and protect sensitive information. Adding layers of security such as two factor authentication is the standard in many industries and will continue to be to protect against fraud and unauthorized access.
Two factor authentication solutions that use out of band authentication with one time passwords can also be easily implemented and can be cost effective in many organizations because there are no expensive hardware tokens to deploy since most users already have access to a mobile device such as a mobile phone to authenticate themselves. Two factor authentication can also be easily implanted in many security processes without extensive training of users and can be implemented in network servers, the cloud, computer hardware, and software.
Threats to online security such as hardware and software key loggers are one way fraud attacks occur. These types of threats are often difficult to detect and two factor authentication solution methods which utilize out of band authentication with dynamic one-time passwords reduces these types of attacks because even if key loggers retrieve one factor of authentication, they will not be able to retrieve the second factor of authentication such as the dynamic one-time password sent through a mobile phone.
With more institutions allowing remote access to sensitive information, stronger security measures must be implemented to prevent attacks and authenticate authorized users. Many industry rules and regulators such as HIPAA and the FFIEC have already enforced two factor authentication as a standard to help protect against the rising fraud attacks. Organizations across industries must implement stronger security processes to protect sensitive data and to also increase consumer confidence in information privacy. Two factor authentication which utilize out of band authentication using one-time passwords is the standard in authentication which can increase the security processes of many organizations for years to come.
Adam provides information about authentication including two factor authentication solutions and remote access security. He feels by providing the public with a greater understanding of IT security better privacy standards will be created.