Two factor auth, or sometimes multi factor auth.

You know what it is right?


It's that process you do when you sign into certain services, where you have to whip out your phone, and confirm the sign in, or sometimes even enter a six digit code as a second step after you've entered your password. 

Often it'll be on the things you want to keep more secure, like banking apps, or your work emails.


But why is it important? And why do IT companies like ourselves set it up as a requirement for staff?


Well, as you might have guessed, it's all about keeping those accounts you're singing into secure. 

Cyber threats are everywhere, and there's any number of ways that someone acting with criminal intent can steal passwords.

Recent stats from the Office for National Statistics say that more than half of all adults say they've experienced an attempted phishing attack, and our experience in the field shows that many of those attacks are successful.

So... we're well past the glorious early days of the internet, where all it took to log into your bank was the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th character from your password. 


The future is now, and technology has moved for hackers too. A password on it's own is vulnerable, and we need further protections to keep our accounts secure.

And, that's where two factor auth comes in.


Even if a hacker knows my password, they can't get into my account protected with a two factor auth unless they can get past that second factor as well. 

Now, don't get me wrong, it is possible to get past the second factor, but it is much much trickier. 

99 percent more tricker to be precise, if you believe the stats issued by Microsoft. That's right, they say just by turning on two factor authentication, your account is 99% less likely to be compromised. 


Now, I know what some of you might be thinking....

Having the extra step to log in is annoying. Getting the thing set up and working is annoying. All you want to do is log into your account, and two factor adds friction to that process.

And, a lot of the time it can be, BUT with good IT practices, and a little know-how, the process can be MUCH smoother.


Sure, there will always be that second step, there no escaping that guy, so there might be a small amount of annoyance, but I promise you'll be more annoyed if you end up getting hacked because you don't have two factor authentication turned on.


If you'd like to find out more about how we approach two factor auth, or more about how we keep our customers secure in general, get in touch and I'd be happy to explain more.

Contact us