Multi-factor authentication (MFA): ideal for enterprise login and access security

Businesses are evolving sharply, and so are cybercrime and ransomware attacks. In this changing security landscape, is the traditional way of protecting your business-critical accounts using only strong passwords sufficient? Cybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be a ransomware attack every 11 seconds by 2021¹, and is the risk of relying on passwords worth it? Of course not!

While cyber attackers continue to sharpen their skills and look for new ways to gain unauthorized access to accounts, now is a perfect time to consider upgrading your access security — just an extra bit of security at the login and access mechanism can make all the difference.

The security team at Druva continuously looks for ways to enhance the security of user data  and our products themselves. End-to-end encryption, automated monitoring to flag potential risks and anomalous data activity, and proprietary entropy-based machine learning algorithms help IT admins monitor, detect, and counter potentially malicious activity. 

Why choose MFA? 

When you are required to key in only your username and password, the login security is dependent only on one factor, that is, a valid password. This is called single-factor authentication. So, in situations where the password is compromised, attackers can easily get access to the account. 

MFA requires more than just passwords and offers a multi-layered access-security system that verifies the user’s identity using additional checks. In situations when passwords are hacked/stolen, the risk to your account will be mitigated, as the other authentication factors may not have been compromised, giving you time to correct the issue. As MFA allows users extensive access only when they verify who they claim to be, you, and only you, are allowed to access your account. This makes MFA one of the most efficient ways to enhance access security, and why it is becoming increasingly common.

It is never too early to take any action that secures your corporate resources.

What makes MFA unique

MFA uses authentication factors that add the extra layer of security for identity verification.

These authentication factors act as independent credentials that are used in combination to successfully verify the identity of the user. MFA can have two or more authentication factors for identity verification; this is termed two-factor authentication (2FA).

At Druva, we feature 2FA, and this is termed “secured login” across Druva products. 

Authentication factors are generally categorized as follows: 

• Knowledge factors: This is simply ‘something that you know,’ such as a password, personal identification number (PIN), or answers to security questions.

• Possession factors: This is ‘something that you have.’ This includes devices with cryptographic safety tokens, mobile phone One Time Passwords (OTPs), and email OTPs.

• Inherence factors: This is where you need to show human presence. This includes fingerprints, retinal scans, voice or biometric verification.

How Druva implements MFA

As a SaaS enterprise, Druva offers cloud-based centralized management for various administration related tasks. With all resources located 100% in the cloud, you can manage all your data from any corner of the globe and any device. As such, it is imperative to have a secured login and access control in place.

Now that we have established that MFA has the potential to safeguard your accounts and prevent unauthorized access to your business-critical data, let’s take a look at how MFA works for Druva products.

When Druva’s 2FA secured login is enabled for your Druva account, at every login administrators across your organization are required to enter a time-based one-time password (OTP) in addition to their login password.

The authentication process utilizes the ”knowledge factor” and ”possession factor” for authentication. As a part of the possession factor, the 2FA framework sends an OTP to the user’s registered email address. Since the OTPs are time-based, the login and access security become even more stringent and robust. Also, setting up secured login for your Druva account itself requires OTPs. 

Key takeaways

MFA is undoubtedly one of the most efficient ways to improve access security and is rapidly becoming a standard offering across most enterprises. It provides many security advantages over legacy offerings. Simply put, MFA enables the following: 

• Enhanced security: Multi-layer security that brings impersonation to a halt. If it is really you, only you can get through!
• Compliance: MFA is well-positioned to ensure your organization meets the stringent compliance and regulatory requirements in place today.
• Hassle-free: Users get total control of the authentication process, and can rest assured their accounts and business-critical data are secure at all times.
• Passwords are history: This does not essentially mean that you can do away with having strong passwords. But, this delivers peace of mind and allows you to concentrate and increase productivity, free from having to remember passwords.

Discover data protection for the cloud era

Druva’s innovative applications provide the next-generation security today’s cloud-based technologies demand. Looking to learn more about our leading enterprise backup and data protection capabilities? Visit the ransomware page of the Druva site for an in-depth look at how our ransomware protection solution prevents, detects, and recovers data with air-gapped cloud backups. Or, read our recent blog on unusual data activity (UDA) detection — another feature Druva offers to empower customers’ data security and resiliency.

¹ Cybersecurity Ventures, “2019 Cybersecurity Almanac: 100 Facts, Figures, Predictions And Statistics,” Morgan, Steve.