Understanding authentication, MFA, and going passwordless

In this section, we will review authentication as commonly used today. We will discuss MFA and passwordless methods used to protect users’ identities. As already stated, a compromise of credentials is one of the most common methods of a breach today, and commonly used authentication models are outdated and need updating. The traditional method of entering a username and password is simply not acceptable. If you don’t have a strategy in place to improve your authentication posture, add it to your top three security priorities. Investing in a zero-trust strategy means that you always assume the possibility of a breach, and account credentials are no exception.

Looking at an on-premises AD deployment, authentication methods consist of Kerberos, Integrated Windows authentication, Digest Authentication, NTLM authentication, or Transport Layer Security (TLS)/Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), depending on what you are accessing...