Identity theft is a serious problem that affects millions of businesses and people every year. Bad actors or cybercriminals use stolen identities to access business networks, personal and financial information, commit fraud, and cause damage to reputations. One of the most common ways that hackers steal identities is by exploiting weak or compromised passwords, which are often the only form of authentication required to access accounts. Another way is Phishing, but’s another post.
To prevent identity theft and enhance the security of your organization, it is important to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all of your users. MFA is a method of verifying identities by requiring two or more factors, or pieces of evidence, that you are who you say you are. This way, if an account’s username /password pair is leaked, it does not mean the cybercriminals have won, because there is another security barrier (MFA) blocking access.
If you want to know whether your company’s employee credentials are on the dark web, this link Free Dark Web Scan Report For Businesses | WatchGuard will provide a count of the credentials (Not the actual accounts).
The reality is one cannot rely on individuals to have a sufficiently complex password to secure their personal or business accounts. Technical policies that enforces the characteristics of a good password may be in effect (this goes without saying), however it is still only one barrier in protecting identities, so get Multi Factor Authentication into the organization.
Cheers
Hayden. S Scott Jr.
Cybersecurity Professional
Eight Layer Technologies 