Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
MFA is becoming an important consideration for many enterprises as passwords alone are not considered secure enough. Guidance from the NCSC in the United Kingdom recommends that MFA should be used to counter the threat of compromised passwords. Microsoft strongly promotes the use of MFA when accessing their cloud services. It is becoming more and more straightforward to implement multiple factors; for example, Microsoft automatically supports the use of smart cards with Active Directory accounts. There are many third-party solution providers offering mobile authenticator apps. We will take a look at some of the choices in the following sections.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
2FA simply means using two different methods or two different factors during the authentication process. You must combine two different factors. Factors are assigned a unique identifier (there are five factors: Type I through to Type V).
The factors include the following...
