Hands up if, try as you may, but you can only remember three passwords. So imagine how many of your users are recycling the same three passwords for different logins and websites. That is also probably why you were reading the news this weekend and feeling a bit uneasy when you saw that 50 million Facebook accounts have been hacked and around 90 million Facebook users have been logged out of their devices automatically by Zuckerberg and co for “security reasons”. Even if you are one of the lucky ones not affected (you would have had to log in to your account again this weekend), it is time to diligently enable 2FA where ever possible. To companies with sensitive customer information (under GDPR, email addresses, name, date of birth and addresses all fall under this category), if you do not yet have a strong customer authentication method for logins in place – let these recent data breaches and Facebook’s looming 1.63 billion dollar fine be extra motivation to add this on your priority list and put it high up there. Not to mention, Facebook does not yet know how far reaching and how bad the implications of this breach will have on affected users – an even scarier thought.
In light of recent events, the internet is teeming with articles on how users can protect themselves by activating two factor authentication (2FA), drawing attention to the fact that it is currently one of the easiest and best ways you can protect your users and your business. Despite this, most B2C online businesses are still hesitant to enable 2FA for their users, for fear of losing them were they to add an additional layer of friction to the user journey. However, a big up side to these widely publicized breaches is that companies can now also take advantage of their customers becoming more aware of the importance of cybersecurity and the part that they play in it.
Losing users is effectively bad for businesses and 2FA has long since evolved from SMS authentication and big hardware tokens, to end-user friendly options such as Zero-Touch offered by Futurae. With Zero-Touch, end users will be able to login with strong multi-factor authentication without any additional action due to future-proof technology and machine learning employed in the process, therefore removing any additional friction. To ensure that the needs of different businesses from a diverse range of industries are met, Futurae offers a flexible suite of authentication methods allowing for companies to pick and choose what works best for them, be it QR-Code authentication or one time passwords (OTP).
While 2FA may sound like an big investment in preventing an attack that may or may not occur, a potential $1.63 billion fine is definitely no joke and neither is the blow to Facebook’s already ailing public image. It could be you next, so do not waste any time to review and optimize your cybersecurity game plan to make sure it won’t be you on the news. And while you are at it, enable 2FA on your Facebook account!
If you have any questions as to how Futurae can further support you and your customers, please write to [info@futurae.com]
(mailto:info@futurae.com).