User permissions and two factor authentication are a critical component of a secure security system. They lower the risk that malicious insiders are able to act and have a lesser impact on data breaches and assist in ensuring that you adhere to regulatory requirements.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires the user to provide credentials from a variety of categories – something they’re familiar with (passwords PIN codes, passwords, and security questions), something they own (a one-time verification code sent to their phone or authenticator app) or something they are (fingerprints or a retinal scan). Passwords alone no longer offer sufficient protection against various hacking techniques – they can easily be stolen, shared with the incorrect people, and more vulnerable to compromise through attacks like phishing as well as on-path attacks and brute force attacks.

It is also important to have 2FA in place for accounts that are highly sensitive, such as online banking websites for tax filing as well as email, social media and cloud storage services. Many of these services are accessible without 2FA. However enabling it on the most crucial and sensitive ones will add an extra layer of security.

To ensure the effectiveness of 2FA cybersecurity professionals have to reevaluate their authentication strategy article frequently to keep up with new threats and improve user experience. Some examples of this include phishing attacks that trick users into sharing their 2FA numbers or “push bombing,” which overwhelms users with multiple authentication requests, causing them to accidentally approve legitimate ones because of MFA fatigue. These challenges and others require a continually evolving security solution that offers visibility into user logins to detect suspicious activity in real time.