Last updated on February 24, 2023
Single-Factor Authentication (SFA or 1FA) is a weak type of authentication that requires demonstrating only one proof of identity – most often a password – to gain access to a system, account, or resource.
Why Is Single-Factor Authentication (SFA) Weak?
While any single authentication method used during authentication is Single-Factor Authentication, most SFA systems are password-based. If you access an account by only providing your login and password, you are undergoing 1FA. The unfortunate consequence of password-based SFA is that anybody who gets to know your password can access your account. Even if your password is long, complex, and strong, it can still leak during a data breach or be picked up by a malicious keylogger.
Is Single-Factor Authentication (SFA) a Bad Practice?
Single-Factor Authentication is widely recognized as a bad practice in cybersecurity. For example, The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added the use of Single-Factor Authentication (SFA) to the list of bad practices in 2021. Further, organizations must abide by industry standards and regulations such as HIPAA, NIST, or PCI DSS. As a result, each company must observe a set of rules pertaining to authentication. A company that does not use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is most likely not compliant with the regulations of its industry. Even if MFA is not mandatory for your industry yet, it will be in the future. So, deploy MFA for all your users today. By the way, MFA is so commonplace now that organizations cannot get cyber insurance if they do not use MFA.
How Does Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Increase Account Security?
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) involves adding one or more authentication factors to the default password-based authentication. The additional factors usually fall into the Possession Factor category (smart card, smartphone, security key) or the Inherence Factor category (fingerprint, face recognition). When MFA is enabled, a hacker who knows your password still cannot access your account because they do not own your phone and do not have your fingerprint. While the Possession and Inherence factors can also be compromised, hacking them is incomparably more difficult than simply breaking a password. As a result, MFA significantly improves your account security.
One Factor More Prevents 99.9% Attacks
In fact, Multi-Factor Authentication prevents 99.9% of attacks on accounts, says Microsoft. That is a massive security boost in exchange for little time and money spent on purchasing and deploying an MFA solution on your resources.
Enable Cost-Effective MFA
Single-Factor Authentication (SFA) based on passwords is simply too weak to thwart today’s sophisticated cyberattacks. Enable Rublon Multi-Factor Authentication to one-up on hackers. MFA helps solidify your cyber safeguards and bolster your security posture by introducing a multi-layered approach to authentication.
Rublon costs only 2$ per user per month and allows you to enable MFA on an unlimited number of applications, servers, and services such as VPNs, cloud apps, and Remote Desktop Services. Are you using Active Directory or FreeRADIUS as your identity provider? We support that. Are you looking for Single Sign-On and Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication? We got that.
Break out of the chains of SFA and get a robust and cost-efficient MFA.
