According to a report published in Forbes, the FBI has issued a cyber threat warning against the use of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as they observed that threat actors can infiltrate the authentication services through social engineering attacks.
However, contrary to what the US Law enforcement agency has suggested, Microsoft has issued a confirmation that MFAs do have the potential to block 99% of account-based hacks with regards to the general population.
Security researchers from Russia based Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky say that secondary tokens in practice do not back up usernames and passwords security-wise unless users or companies integrate the data with biometrics stats such as time of day, geolocation and IP address.
A similar study made by Proofpoint authenticates the info and adds that 99% of attacks rely on human interaction rather than automation as predicted by analysts in earlier years. This includes a person taking action such as click on links, opening attachments, or falling for a scam.
While the predicted risks remain rare, the FBI estimates that the reliance on MFA will lead to growing cyber-attacks. And the best way to mitigate the risks is to leverage biometrics tools to assure user identities.
Although the tools do not guaranty 100% risk-free operations, it does form into an effective security measure to protect online accounts from cyber hijacks.
NOTE- Multi-Factor Authentication is a form of security authentication that requires more than one form of authentication to assure user identity. In general alphanumeric texts sent to mobile phones and emails are often verified as trusted logins.
