Identity security is one of the most significant information security challenges that organizations face. For decades, the primary tool most companies have used to restrict network access is the username-password combination. Unfortunately, passwords are a weak link in the security chain.

For IT management, convincing colleagues to accept minimum password length and complexity requirements is an uphill battle. And when frequent password changes are not enforced, users often use the same password for multiple sites. When this occurs, the breach of a single, unrelated entity can quickly lead to a cascading effect resulting in a breach of the business.

While the above policies should nonetheless be enforced, multifactor authentication steps up security by requiring users to present a combination of two pieces of “evidence” when logging into an account: something they know, such as a password, something they have, such as a mobile device or token; or something they are, such as a fingerprint. In this way, multifactor authentication helps protect against successful phishing, social engineering, and brute-force password attacks.