More and more businesses and organizations are relying on digital technologies to improve their day-to-day operations and compete with other companies. While this change allows them to be more competitive in their industries, it also introduces risks from cybercriminals. Many businesses continue using KBA or knowledge-based authentication systems and have yet to update their systems to passwordless authentication.
Continuing to rely on passwords makes it risky, especially since some companies still use weak passwords. One fairly recent incident is when AMD was allegedly hacked for using “password” as one of their passwords, and 450 GB of data was held for ransom.
Hackers like the ones who hacked AMD are called black hat hackers and hack systems to steal information. Businesses can employ white hat hackers to spot any vulnerabilities in their security systems, but this should not necessarily be the first thing to come to mind businesses. It’s far more critical to have a security-focused culture.
A security-focused culture minimizes the risk of bad actors stealing data by educating the employees to practice several security measures, including avoiding unsecured networks like free WiFi spots in airports and cafes and steering clear from sketchy websites.
In addition to the culture, businesses must use data encryption to protect their data further if a data breach and data leak occur. Even if hackers get access to confidential data, they will not be able to use them when they are encrypted.
Hackers also love to exploit weak KBA-based authentication solutions since they can use stolen login credentials to have access to sensitive information. Several emails have already been compromised throughout the years, and there is a chance that bad actors can use the login details stored there. Adopting digital identity verification and biometric digital signature solutions can mitigate this risk of cybercriminals getting access to sensitive data due to not being knowledge-based.
Using biometric authentication solutions ensures that cybercriminals will still not have access to sensitive files even when having access to legitimate login credentials since they still need the appropriate biometric data. Companies can get the appropriate solutions through a reputable FIDO2 biometric authentication solution provider. For more information, see this article by LoginID.
