A secure password, consisting of numbers, letters, and symbols, is becoming less secure with every passing day. With the advancement of computer technology causing hacks and data breaches to become more severe while also increasing the risk of compromising data, people can more easily track accounts and log more information without a user’s notice of a sudden breach. In fact, some data support the fact that a random business will fall victim to a fatal ransomware attack every 11 seconds. To ensure that the chance of a compromise should be kept as low as possible, every person should enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) with any account possible.

MFA is a way to provide a second identification step during the process of logging in. The second step features users entering another password or code, receiving approval from a secondary device, or identifying the user’s face or other forms of biometric information.

The best benefit of enabling MFA is a more secure account. According to Microsoft, 99.9% of all compromised accounts feature a lack of two-factor authentication (a form of MFA). Furthermore, the source also shows the mentioned percent in a contrary manner: people who enable multi-factor authentication can block 99.9% of all automated attacks that want any login information. Thus, compromised accounts should still use MFA due to how it prevents the use of unauthorized information. Furthermore, Verizon shares similar statistics in which MFA methods can prevent credential information from entering use by any third-party access points due to the additional steps needed to use the account. A more recent dataset also shows that 80% of data breaches are caused by weak passwords; since MFA can help secure passwords, MFA will help increase the probability of making a more secure account. Given how MFA almost eliminates the problem of automated hacks and unauthorized access, people should enable MFA to gain better account security.

Another benefit of MFA is the ease of enabling it. Most accounts that have a lot of visitors such as social media platforms, search engines, and e-commerce sites, are able to use MFA. Flick a switch, verify that the authentication works, and the account is now more secure with very little effort. Another benefit of MFA is the ease of compatibility with other sign-in methods, which help reinforce an account’s security and resistance to hacking.

With the rise of more severe data breaches and easier ways to hack into accounts, MFA is one of the best ways to secure an account. Along with almost completely eliminating the threat of automated hacks, MFA is widely supported by many companies and makes it extremely easy to protect your information.

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