In this post, we’ll take a look at a few easy-to-use and effective ways to enhance account takeover protection without impacting employee productivity or customer satisfaction.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Strengthening Account Takeover Protection with MFA
A great way to strengthen protection against account takeover is multifactor authentication (MFA) of your account. MFA requires the user to provide at least two means of identification before being allowed into their account. This usually involved something the user knows (such as a password) and something the user has (like a smartphone to receive a one-time passcode).
MFA greatly lowers the chances of an account takeover. If someone steals your password, they will need your second factor in order to successfully hack you. A 2022 Microsoft report states that enabling MFA allows blocking 99.9% of account compromise attacks, making it one of the most effective defense layers at our disposal.
Organizations must find a way to deploy MFA that does not hinder employee work.
Today’s MFA solutions are easy to use and implement. Push notifications, biometrics, or hardware tokens are less intrusive than traditional methods such as SMS-based codes. They are faster and less disruptive to staff workflows. Allowing employees to use different types of MFA will allow businesses to enjoy high adoption rates and improved account takeover protection.
Using Behavior Analysis for Ongoing Monitoring
A great way to improve account takeover protection in an advanced yet unobtrusive way is through behavioral analytics. This technique uses observed behaviours of users to notice anything that is unusual. Behavioral analytics systems monitor how people use their accounts. This includes the devices they employ, how often they log in, and typical transaction amounts. A user logging in from a fresh device or doing something highly unusual like a transaction after being consistent for long can also be flagged.
Using behavioral analytics constantly protects your systems in real-time. Your staff does not have to monitor every user constantly. It can quickly and automatically make notifications or requests for further authentication with regard to any unusual outcome while not disrupting normal functioning. As time goes on, these systems become increasingly adept at distinguishing between legitimate users and would-be attackers through the application of machine learning algorithms.
We need to make sure that such ‘monitoring mechanisms’ will be smart enough to decode legitimate changes (like a staff member travelling for work) and not malicious activity. A smart behavioral analytics system minimizes false positives, keeping staff from being interrupted while still providing strong account takeover protection.
Streamlining Risk-Based Authentication
Risk-based authentication (RBA) offers a tailored approach to account takeover protection by adjusting the level of scrutiny based on the perceived risk of an action. For example, if an employee logs in from a verified and safe location with a recognized device, they may be allowed to proceed without further verification. The system has the ability to detect unknown login attempt and a request for additional authentication factors, such as an MFA request, can be made.
The RBA allows businesses to use the least amount of security possible based on the context of the login or transaction in order to reduce friction. This method ensures substantial safety while maintaining smooth operations. When working on secure and trusted environments, staff can perform their tasks without unnecessary interruptions but we automatically enforce additional protection measures when needed.
Another advantage of RBA solutions is that they can be customized. Any business can change or alter their security protocols depending on industry-specific risks or user behaviour patterns. Because of this flexibility, account takeover protection stays effective without harming staff productivity.
Educating Staff on Security Best Practices
To improve account takeover protection, technology is great, but human behaviour is one of the weakest links of security. Employees may threaten security by reusing passwords, getting phished or not reporting suspicious activities. Teaching employees about security is important to reduce the occurrence of ATO fraud.
It is possible to reduce vulnerabilities by regularly training staff on issues like password hygiene, phishing attempts and MFA importance. Companies should develop a culture of security where people report suspicious activity and set strong unique passwords for all accounts.
When new employees are trained or are made to undergo refresher training at regular intervals, threats of a security breach can be averted. Account takeovers usually start with human error. So if you can increase staff mindset towards proactive security, it can be an effective preventive measure without any hassle.
Simplifying authentication with single-sign-on (SSO)
Generally, a lot of organizations have many systems and applications along with multiple logins. So, it becomes tough for employees to manage that. As there are so many passwords, users may experience password fatigue and use the same or weak passwords to protect accounts. SSO allows users to log in once to get access to all their apps without having to login again with a different authentication. It allows to use of one credential to log in to many accounts.
SSO is a useful tool in enhancing account takeover protection as it decreases the frequency with which employees must input their credentials. Thus, the chances of a password breach decrease. Also, the fact that the user only has to authenticate once means that SSO can work with MFA to ensure that login attempts are secure without loading the staff with logins.
But, it is important that organizations ensure their SSO implementation is secure and robust. Using strong encryption protocols and ensuring that SSO solutions are updated can prevent attackers from exploiting vulnerabilities. The strategy enables companies to enhance account takeover protection without sacrificing efficiency.
Using Device Fingerprinting for Enhanced Security
Device fingerprinting can also help prevent account takeovers. This technology establishes a unique profile for the device connecting to that account by analyzing various combinations of factors, such as the IP address of the device, the browser settings or cookies, operating system and others. When someone logs into your account on an unrecognised device, they will be asked to perform an additional verification like MFA which validates requests for login.
Device fingerprinting is especially useful since it works silently in the background, without disturbing the user experience. Workers can still log into their accounts as normal. However, if the threat is detected, the site can trigger extra protection with no action from users needed. This method is not intrusive and does not interfere with staff productivity while keeping account takeover protection in place.
Regularly Updating and Patching Systems
It’s also important to ensure that systems are kept up to date with the latest security patches. Repeatedly, attackers refer to outdated software to access targets. Organizations must make it a habit to update their systems and applications regularly that are used for account authentication and access management.
Automation should be considered as much as possible to reduce pressure on staff. The patch management solutions ensure that the software is updated promptly without failing at any point in time. Regular updates will help maintain a safe environment, ensuring account takeover protection are maintained.
Conclusion
You can improve account takeover protection without hurting staff productivity. Organizations can use multi-factor authentication, device-based parameters, and user and admin-level interventions to prevent any breach in the enterprise. Using one sign-on technology and device fingerprinting could allow for added layers of security without adding friction. Besides, monitoring your system updates will help you sustain the strong security.
To be successful, account takeover protection must effectively enable threat prevention in a usable manner. When done right, account takeover prevention solutions will give you peace of mind, without slowing your teams down or damaging business efficiency.
