| Single factor authentication poses much unnecessary risk upon any information system as most single factor authentication methods use only a userid and password. Passwords are, in most cases, easily hacked with the right tools. Multifactor authentication utilizes multiple levels of identification and authorization criteria and provides a much stronger level of security than single factor. As privileged users have access to most of the files on the platform, using a single factor authentication approach provides an easy avenue of attack for a malicious user. Multifactor authentication includes:
(i) something a user knows (e.g., password/PIN);
(ii) something a user has (e.g., cryptographic identification device, token); or
(iii) something a user is (e.g., biometric). |
