Cybersecurity insurance is designed to help businesses mitigate the loss and expenses associated with cyber incidents, such as a data breach. According to IBM Security’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, “the average total cost of a data breach increased by nearly 10% year over year, the largest single year cost increase in the last seven years.” Cybersecurity insurance can help businesses mitigate this cost after a successful cyberattack.
In recent months, cybersecurity insurance providers mandated that multi-factor authentication must be in place as a base requirement to receive coverage from a cyberattack. As the number and severity of cyber-attacks has increased over the past year, cybersecurity insurance providers are finding that they need to ensure that their payers have (at least) minimum security requirements to prevent a successful attack.
Multi-factor authentication reduces risk
Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, was developed to add security checks to the login process. Before being granted access to something, the user is required to submit additional information to verify their identity. By creating more login proof points, your business can better prove that someone is who they say they are, while making it much harder for someone else to break through your defenses. Multi-factor authentication protects an account with:- Something you know: A “knowledge factor” like a password.
- Something you have: A “possession factor” like a phone or security key.
- Something you are: An “inherence factor” like biometrics.
