Stop Account Takeovers with Multifactor Authentication

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported in 2020 that Americans were swindled out of over $1.9 billion as a result of fraudulent transactions in 2019, a sharp increase from just around $300 million a year before. The story is no different in the European Union where the adult population has frequently fallen prey to online frauds and scams between 2018 and 2020 leading to a whopping financial loss of approximately €24 billion.

In spite of enterprises and institutions across the globe investing millions in enhancing their security protocols, the number of unauthorized account takeovers continues to rise.

What Do Account Takeovers Really Mean?

Simply put, account takeover fraud is a form of identity theft wherein a malicious third party accesses a victim’s account. By posing as the real account owner, fraudsters can change account details, make purchases, withdraw funds, and even leverage the stolen information to access other accounts.

These fraudulent activities can happen in several ways and everyone is at risk. This is why username, passwords and answers to secret questions are part of the bygone days. Modern day fraudulent activities can only be prevented with the help of multifactor authenticator protocols.

Stopping Account Takeovers with Multifactor Authentication

Here are some of the common security solutions that can be seamlessly integrated with existing organizational IT infrastructure.

1. Phone Authenticator Solution

The top of the line phone authenticator solutions is easily compatible with Fast Identity Online or FIDO protocol services. The authentication tool also works smoothly on Windows and Apple devices, offering users a 100% password-less login platform. This is a workable model even on Microsoft AD and Azure AD as the system quickly recognizes user identifies through 100% facial scan or fingerprints on the mobile device.

2. Smart Badge Authenticator Solution

Enabling another avenue of password-less login are Smart Badge Authenticator solutions that also involves a multifactor authenticator process. The software can be easily integrated with the user’s preferred device, be it a Windows PC, Mac, Android phone (NFC) and iPhone with iOS 13 and above. It seamlessly works with Fido2 Security Key including Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Microsoft account, Salesforce, GitHub, Twitter and many more. Along with that users have the flexibility to authenticate, anywhere, anytime even in the absence of total network access.

3. Security Key

NFC compatible, Security keys are USB enabled and are the most popular strong authenticator today. The best reason to use USB/NFC Security Key is worry-free to use in any user device you can reach in market anywhere. It plugs n plays in Windows 10, MacOS, Chromebook, Linux system, Android and iOS. Microsoft has own certified vendor lists to use Security Key

in Azure AD and Office 365. Not all FIDO certified Security Keys can work for Microsoft Azure AD and Office 365.

In Conclusion

As Trace Fooshee, senior analyst at Aite Group concludes in his research into 2019 account takeover trends, “The era of industrial-scale ATO attacks is here, and the table stakes for FIs to remain competitive in defending against the ever-evolving threat landscape are increasing.” Hence, other than being the best defence for security breaches, multifactor authenticator solutions are able to prevent account takeover attacks or at the least minimize them to a significant extent.

GoTrustID Inc. (GoTrust) is the pioneer company providing passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA) platform by employee’s everyday items: phone, a USB Key, or their smart badge. Our mission is to make simple & secure login anywhere and anytime. With every authenticator and server certified by FIDO, GoTrust Authentication Platform makes every employee become their own ID having effortless login to their computer, corporate systems, and cloud services. GoTrustID has twenty-four international patents granted including six US patents.

https://gotrustid.com/