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Multifactor authentication from FIDO

Watchdog

Article from ADMIN 23/2014

By Joseph Guarino

The FIDO Alliance is working to build open solutions for the future of authentication.

The recent discovery of a 1 billion+ password treasure trove in the hands of Russian cybercriminals brings home a far too common occurrence. Almost daily, you hear of a new breach and a new set of stolen credentials, a new pastebin dump, and millions of frustrated admins and end users. Beyond security breaches, other reasons to replace this nearly 50-year-old technology include:

Users reuse passwords
Users create weak passwords
Users want ease of use
Passwords are centralized in databases

In short, passwords are painfully antiquated, insecure, and clearly in need of an overhaul.

Real Risks/Real Costs

The costs of single-factor authentication are hardly theoretical and without significance. These are just a few real-world facts about password risks and costs:

Forrester Research notes the cost of password breaches reached more than US$ 200 billion in annual losses.
According to the Verizon 2013 Data Breach Report, weak or stolen credentials account for 76 percent of network intrusions, and more than 50 percent use some form of hacking.
A 2013 SplashData study on data from an Adobe breach showed the top five most used passwords are: 123456, password, 12345678, qwerty, abc123. (Yes, you make take a moment to scream or hurl a heavy object!)
According to Intercede, 51 percent of users share usernames and passwords with friends, family, and colleagues.

Unfortunately, many large players in the marketplace would rather keep their heads in the sand than face reality.

What is MFA?

It's time to face the facts that this more than 50-year-old love affair with the password should end. Admins need to look for what is next. That next step can and should address some of the key weaknesses of single-factor authentication.

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