User Permissions and Two Factor Authentication

Permissions for users and two-factor authentication are crucial components of a secure security infrastructure. They help reduce the risk of accidental or malicious insider activity, reduce the impact of data breaches and help ensure regulatory compliance.

Two factor authentication (2FA) is a process in which a user has to use a credential from two categories to be able to log into their account. This could be something that the user is familiar with (passwords PIN codes, passwords, security questions) or something they have (one-time verification code sent to their mobile or an authenticator program) or something they actually possess (fingerprints face, fingerprints, or retinal scan).

Often the 2FA is a subset of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which has many more factors than just two. MFA is a requirement in certain industries such as healthcare banking, ecommerce, and healthcare (due to HIPAA regulations). The lasikpatient.org/2020/09/20/premium-diagnostics-from-cataract-surgery-is-the-best-optrion-for-severely-ill-patient COVID-19 pandemic has also raised the importance of security for businesses that require two-factor authentication.

Enterprises are living organisms and their security infrastructures are always changing. Users have roles that change, hardware capabilities are evolving, and complex systems are at the fingertips of users. It is important to review your two-factor authentication plan regularly to make sure that it keeps pace with the changes. Adaptive authentication is one method to achieve this. It’s a kind of contextual authentication that creates policies based on time, location and when a login request is received. Duo offers an administrator dashboard centrally that lets you easily monitor and manage these types of policies.