How do you verify the person attempting to access your platform is who they claim to be?
Data breaches and identity theft are serious concerns for individuals and organizations. A report by the ITRC reveals that identity fraud is on the rise as attackers target online payment platforms, apps, and financial companies. By attacking companies instead of individuals, criminals seek to access larger amounts of data than targeting individuals.
Every time a data breach, compliance issue, or identity theft makes headlines, the public’s trust in digital transactions suffers. That is why it is critical to protect your company with anti-identity theft procedures so that you do not become a victim and lose your clients’ trust. A security breach can cause severe financial loss or money laundering and fraud.
Read on to find out why identity authentication is crucial for your business:
An identity check, also known as authentication of personally identifiable information (PII), is the process of determining whether or not the person claiming to be someone else exists and verifying the integrity of the identity information they supply. It is critical to building a strong trust foundation in the digital age.
Administrators can give or deny access to a protected resource by confirming a user’s claimed identity. Typically, authentication is achieved through the use of a password. Knowledge-based authentication (KBA), one-time passwords (OTP), security questions, biometrics, and security questions are some of the other types.
What Are the Benefits of Identity Authentication?
The financial consequences could be severe and disastrous for a corporation. A typical data breach costs $9.4 million, but it may cost much more. Large losses like this are common for large organizations, but they can be disastrous for a small or medium-sized business.
Aside from the obvious financial consequences, a data breach can harm a firm in various ways, such as losing credibility in the eyes of potential customers.
1. Enhanced User Experience
When organizations introduce strict password regulations, IT staff are frequently burdened with password resets. Multi-factor authentication ensures security without the need for time-consuming resets or elaborate policies.
Passwordless authentication enhances the user experience by making users feel more secure while logging in to their applications. According to a Ponemon Institute survey, more than 55% of respondents want to protect their accounts without needing passwords. Even though passwords have been in use for decades, an increasing number of people are becoming aware of the inherent security risks associated with them and would like to authenticate using other methods.
2. Prevents Brute-force Attacks
Passwords are insufficient to safeguard your system from criminals. According to a Microsoft study, weak or compromised passwords are responsible for 80% of cyber data breaches.
Typically, brute-force attacks involve hackers guessing passwords or encryption keys through trial and error. However, if the login process involves an OTP or biometric authentication, they will not work.
Multi-factor authentication, such as biometrics, SMS/email tokens, and one-time passwords, can significantly limit the possibility of a brute-force attack. The hacker cannot access the system even if they know the password.
3. Improved Security
People typically use the same password for many accounts, which makes identity theft easy. There have been several situations in which attackers have obtained user credentials due to exposed passwords. You can imagine how easily crooks can access your system if it only has password authentication. Multi-factor authentication employing biometrics is the most secure authentication mechanism accessible to any system.
Secure authentication protects against many threats that could compromise a system or user data. In addition, multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to accounts, making it more difficult for fraudsters to gain access to them.
4. Increased User Trust
When you protect their personal information and prevent unwanted access to their data, user confidence in your system grows. The system’s security is critical to the user experience. Numerous system hacks may drive away potential customers. Users are willing to tolerate advanced authentication mechanisms for data security. System security improvements ensure that data is constantly secure.
Keep in mind that multi-factor authentication is less stressful while providing the best level of security available. Users must perform flawlessly. Password authentication has limitations, as you are aware. While there are different rules for creating a secure password, hackers can also use them as tools.
5. Protects Your Reputation
Developing client reputation is critical for every business, especially those who intend to use the internet as a key channel for customer acquisition, retention, and service. Customers today are eager to switch brands if a product falls short of their expectations due to the abundance of options available.
Furthermore, individuals are increasingly looking for companies they can rely on. Consumers are naturally concerned about the security of their personal information in this age of recurrent data breaches. Identity verification demonstrates that you are concerned about their safety in an increasingly dangerous digital environment.
Improved authentication procedures can increase customer satisfaction, and as a result, customers are less likely to go elsewhere for their vital financial and other business demands.
6. Decreases the Costs Associated with Data Breaches
Multi-factor authentication solutions might be costly to set up at first. A security breach is more likely to occur in the absence of multi-factor authentication and is significantly more expensive.
When it comes to preventing future costly data breaches, good authentication can save millions of dollars. Inadequate attention to identity verification may endanger an individual or a business. Fraud and money laundering are two examples of such threats. A lack of a trustworthy technique for validating people’s identities was most certainly a cause. As a result, organizations use identity verification in risk-based models to decide which consumers are the most dangerous to their security.
Since it provides a substantially more secure environment for customers and organizations, authentication is here to stay. As hackers improve their skills, authentication techniques evolve. Each enterprise’s difficulties will necessitate a unique approach to identifying the best answer. However, it is clear that with the right solution, it is possible to provide a secure, simplified, and practical user experience while deterring fraudsters. Businesses can reduce the likelihood of someone stealing an account or identity by comparing the information presented to the information they used to set up the account.
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