IDENTITY 101

10 Reasons Why You Need Adaptive Authentication Over 2FA

When poor passwords cause 80 percent of data breaches, it’s clear that passwords alone won’t protect your business.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a great starting point, but a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work when users have different behavior, devices, levels of access and attributes. Enter: adaptive authentication.

Multifactor authentication improves security by requiring biometric and contextual info before granting access. Adaptive authentication extends multifactor authentication by flagging login requirements depending on a user’s profile or situation. This makes it much more difficult for cybercriminals to gain access. With adaptive authentication, businesses can add layers of security without the complexity.

 Multifactor authentication improves security by requiring biometric and contextual info before granting access

10 Reasons you need MFA

1. User experience is everything

Employees need a simple user experience to access work. otherwise they’ll lose productivity. 2fa provides the same experience to everyone – both legitimate and fraudulent requests.

2. Push notifications aren’t enough

Cyberthreats are increasing in sophistication, and therefore security must, too. Organizations need full assurance users are who they claim to be – more assurance than a push notification can provide.

3. Authentication solutions must integrate

There are a variety of apps, users and devices in use throughout the business. Authentication solutions need to integrate with all of them, so you have streamlined visibility into user activity and logins.

4. Flexibility is crucial

The more authentication factors you have – from standard push to biometrics – the more flexibility you have to manage adaptive authentication in the way that suits your business the best.

5. Without granular control, you have no control

Adaptive authentication works to ensure users are who they say they are. You need to be able to manage who is authenticated, from where and when, at the organization, group and individual level.

6. 2FA doesn’t offer enough insight

2FA provides a second factor, but you need to know exactly who is accessing what resources, from what device and from what location to be fully confident only the right users have the right access.

7. Biometrics can’t be replicated

What better way to ensure users are who they are than by leveraging what they are? 2FA factors such as a TOTP can be replicated, whereas a fingerprint, voice or face is unique to the individual alone.

8. Context drives authentication

To be fully certain of a user’s legitimacy, you need more context than a username and password. Location, IP address and device are all critical components in ensuring the validity of a request.

9. 2FA can’t adapt with your users

MFA vs 2FA: No two users are the same. That’s why adaptive authentication matches the context of the request to offer the appropriate authentication, without adding any complexity.

10. A one-size-fits-all authentication doesn’t work anymore

Intelligent authentication doesn’t need to be complex. With adaptive authentication, you can prove a user’s identity with a combination of factors, without increasing the friction of the login experience.

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