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1 simple thing can help secure your business IT

Not so long ago, many businesses were protected by antivirus solutions that would stop almost all of the nasty surprises landing in your internal corporate network. However, over the years, the game has changed, and cyber crooks are using far more advanced methods of infiltrating local businesses. In this article, you will learn a simple tactic that will help secure your business and keep your workforce safe from a cyber attack.

It’s not 100% full proof, but if you don’t have this implemented in your business, then you should really be asking your current provider what they are actually getting paid for. Multi-factor authentication, also known as two-factor authentication (MFA or 2FA). It sounds complicated, but in reality, this protocol is easy to implement and will drastically reduce the likelihood of your business being held to ransom over encrypted data. It’s extremely effective in stopping many types of cyber-attacks, which can render most businesses incapacitated for several days.

How does it work?

Your current IT security provider should be able to enable MFA on all if not most, of your web-based IT services.  This includes Office 365 and Google Workspace, to name the most common. Once enabled, you will be prompted to sign in as normal to your online cloud services with an additional verification check in the form of notification to your mobile device.

Why does this protect me?

It’s simple all the phishing emails that currently get through many firewalls and filters don’t include that third level of authentication. Yes, you or a colleague may mistakenly hand over your email address and password to a cyber crook, but without the mobile phone verification, there’s no way for the scammer to gain access to your IT systems.

What other benefits does this have?

The most obvious is the fact that even with a username and password, a cyber crook can no longer gain access to your IT systems, but it also helps reduce the complexity requirements for passwords and expiry times. How many times have you been prompted to enter a new password just because your old one is a few months out of date?  You can now keep your passwords for longer and make them much easier to remember.