Many homes have a security system in addition to traditional locks because protecting the aspects of your physical life is important. Keeping your digital life safe with multi-factor authentication (MFA) is just as imperative!
MFA is another layer of defense that bolsters the safeguards already in place for your technological devices and digital accounts. It provides extra protection against the threat of data theft from strangers.
Ritter has implemented MFA to our login, which provides access to the Ritter Platform and Ritter Docs. Keep reading to review some of the basics of MFA and how it works for the Ritter tools you use.
What Is MFA?
Many may already be familiar with and using layered defense for their technology, especially if you use online banking tools. MFA requires multiple methods for positive identification so the system you’re requesting access to can confirm it’s truly you. This form of digital protection is becoming increasingly popular year over year. A poll taken in 2020 revealed 95 percent of IT decision-makers reported they implemented MFA to control access to certain resources.
How Does MFA Work?
As the name implies, MFA combines at least two separate factors, typically something you know and something you have, to verify your identity.
First, you’ll enter something you know when trying to access the account, which most commonly includes a username and password. Second, you’ll have to use something you have to confirm it’s you trying to log in. For example:
- A cellphone
- An email
- Your fingerprint
- Your face (facial recognition)
The overall goal of MFA is to eliminate the chance of an unauthorized person gaining access to things like your personal information, physical location, computing device, network, or database.
Why Is MFA Important?
The desire for companies to reduce the risk of cyberattacks is largely a reason why MFA has grown increasingly popular. The COVID-19 pandemic made working remotely a widespread norm for many businesses, which puts software at a greater risk for security breaches.
Additionally, MFA make much stronger authentication possible. It’s reported that more than 80 percent of breaches due to hacking are caused by weak or stolen passwords. When MFA is in place and the initial factor is compromised, the attacker still has one more barrier, at the very least, to breach before successfully breaking into the targeted resource. So, the more steps in place, the more protection that’s created.
The more steps in place, the more protection that’s created. MFA can block over 99.9 percent of account attacks.
Is MFA Truly Effective?
Going through multiple steps to log into an account might seem like just a nuisance and not worth it. But the success of MFA is pretty substantial! In 2019, Microsoft reported that MFA can block over 99.9 percent of account attacks. And as hacking only continues to rise, we think it’s worth the extra effort to have MFA in place!
How Does Ritter’s MFA Work?
By implementing MFA on the Platform, we’re not only safeguarding your information, but your clients’ as well. As a high-functioning client relationship management system, the Platform stores your clients’ personal and health-related data. Keeping that data secure is a responsibility Ritter takes very seriously, and we know you do too!
Here’s how our MFA allows you to confirm your identity:
- Enter your username and password to log in as you usually would.
- Choose to receive a unique code via a text to your cell phone or an email to your primary address on file.
- Enter that unique code to complete your log in.
- Select Trust this device for 60 days prior to clicking Verify to avoid completing MFA every time you log in.
Does MFA Make It Harder to Log into the Platform?
Accessing the Platform remains a quick and easy process. The only people who should be really inconvenienced by MFA are hackers!
The nature of this protection relies on the additional level(s) of authentication to be easily accessible in the true user’s present location. So, this can entail an email or a text to your phone that is already with you!
The only people who should be inconvenienced by MFA are hackers!
These days, you can never be too careful while using technology. We want to ensure you feel safe and confident while using our resources, and our MFA protection should provide you with more peace of mind.
MFA is just one of the ways Ritter looks out for our agents. If you’re not partnered with us yet, registering on RitterIM.com is free and simple. Let us support you and keep your business compliant and secure!
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