What is “2-Factor Authentication” from CSP & Why do I need it?

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$1.6M is the total cost of a breach that one in four businesses will experience in the next 24 months. And this isn’t just in the enterprise space.  Hackers are now focusing on small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) due to the strong security defenses of larger companies.

Local SMBs in the Raleigh, NC area, have been victimized by brute force password attacks within the past 6 months. As a result, they experienced days of downtime, countless hours of stress, and huge costs for restoration of data.  (A brute force attack is where a hacker uses software applications in a trial-and-error way to decode passwords.)

You must be proactive, and protect your business BEFORE a breach occurs!

Note: There isn’t one single security measure that’s going to be the “silver bullet” for all scenarios. This requires a layering of security solutions.  Password management is one of these layers.

Some Important Questions to Consider:

• Does your business have critical applications containing sensitive data that must be properly protected?
• Do your employees have multiple passwords to gain access to different applications or digital resources?
• Is it possible that your employees share passwords?
• Is it possible that a single employee could lose a password or have it stolen?
• Is it possible, based on your current security measures, that someone without authorization could gain access to a core business application?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then it’s time to enhance your security measures.

Password Management for SMBs

Here are some issues you probably deal with:

• Your employees must remember multiple passwords for several core applications.
• Employees are lazy about password hygiene.
• Employees generally ignore password management best practices.
• Employees lose productivity due to the time they spend entering passwords all day, every day.
• 40-50% of help-desk tickets are related to password management.

These issues create security holes in your organization while costing significant time, money, and potential business loss.

So, how do you protect your business? With an extremely simple solution.

Security-as-a-Service from CSP.

You get 2 Solutions in one:

Two-Factor Authentication and Single Sign-On.

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-factor authentication (2FA) works with two separate security or validation mechanisms. Typically, one is a physical validation token, and one is a logical code or password. Both must be validated before accessing a secured service or product. Generally, an authenticating procedure requires a physical token or identity validation, followed by a logical password or personal identification number (PIN).

The most common way is via your smartphone.  You download the app we provide on your phone, when you open it, you’ll be asked if you accept or deny the access to your files.  Or, you’ll be asked to identify the code that was texted to your phone.  This verifies that you are who you say you are.

What’s Single Sign On?

Single sign-on (SSO) is used much in the way we just described above. It’s an authentication process that allows a user to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials. SSO is a common procedure in businesses, where a client accesses multiple resources connected to a local area network (LAN).

SSO advantages include:

• Eliminates credential re-authentication and help-desk requests; thus, improving productivity.
• Streamlines local and remote application and desktop workflow.
• Minimizes phishing.
• Improves compliance through a centralized database.
• Provides detailed user access reporting.

Note:  These are business applications, not personal applications.

Security-as-a-Service from CSP is:

• Simple: It delivers intuitive user experiences with smartphone-based 2FA, while granting access to the resources needed throughout the day with a single login.
• Seamless: It seamlessly integrates with your mission-critical systems to deliver security and convenience with minimal disruptions to your workflows.
• Secure: It provides the security and regulatory benefits of 2FA, essentially eliminating the risk of a data breach due to stolen credits.

Don’t risk the security of your data or business.  Contact CSP for more information about our Security-as-a-Service Solution at 919-424-2019 or sriddick@cspinc.com