Multi-Factor Authentication

Among many other horrible things, 2020 was a year of rampant computer fraud. Therefore, 2021 is the year we pay for it. Insurance companies took a beating and now it’s time for premiums to rise and requirements for policy renewals to get harder. Insurance companies are now beginning to mandate something that IT companies, including Promethius Consulting, have been pushing for years…Multi-Factor Authentication.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a means of proving your identity using a means (factor) in addition to your traditional username and password. This factor can come in the form of something you know (e.g. password/PIN); something you have (e.g. token); or something you are (e.g. biometric). The way MFA helps keep you safe is by disallowing someone to access your computer, your email or your computer network by simply cracking your username and password (or your “Password1” in many cases). Once the password has been entered, the hacker would need to provide a second factor, like a code sent via text to your mobile phone. This obviously makes it very difficult for a foreign attacker to gain entry and it is the only reliable way to prevent accounts from being hacked in an age where passwords are compromised almost daily from a variety of databases and traded like baseball cards on the dark web.

Even if you haven’t received a mandate from your insurance company, Promethius would like to start you down the right path vis-à-vis MFA by enabling it for your Microsoft 365 accounts. There is no additional cost for this service for our Managed Services or vDESK clients and it could save you a bundle of money by preventing a successful spear phishing attack.