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1. An Insight into Essential Eight’s Multi-Factor
Authentication
With the increasing instances of cyber-attacks, all organisations, regardless of
their size and industries, need to remain vigilant 24/7. All types of data play an
integral role in how businesses function nowadays, as data is used for
improving targeted marketing, delivering better customer experience, and
learning more about customer behaviour. Essential 8, the prioritised mitigation
strategies developed by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), are the best
measures for organisations to keep various cyber threats at bay.
Multi-factor Authentication: An Effective Essential Eight Strategy
Australia Essential 8 constitutes mitigation strategies that include patch
applications, patch operating systems, multi-factor authentication, restricting
administrative privileges, application control, user application hardening,
regular backups, and restricting Microsoft Office macros. In today’s post, we’ll
discuss the multi-factor authentication mitigation strategy and how it helps
businesses.
Multi-factor authentication turns out to be effective for all types of businesses
as it obstructs malicious actors from easily accessing sensitive business data.
Further, MFA is also successful when it comes to blocking malicious actors
from stealing legitimate credentials. As the name suggests, this method places
two or more factors to authenticate a user before granting access to storage,
server, payment gateways, email, etc. Usually, the MFA factors used include:
 Passwords, passphrases, or a PIN (personal identification number)
 Security keys, smart cards, software certificate, or OTP (One-Time
Password)
 Biometrics like fingerprint or facial recognition

2. Are All MFA Methods Equally Successful?
There’s no arguing the fact that all Essential Eight multi-factor authentication
methods are more effective than single-factor authentication. However, when
it comes to comparing the various MFA methods with each other, some
methods emerge to be better than others.
One-time passwords: Sending OTPs via SMS is one of the most common MFA
methods. Generally, a six-digit number is sent to the user’s phone which would
help the user in getting access or completing half or a part of the MFA process.
However, this factor is not as strong as you think because cellular network
vulnerabilities can be exploited by malicious actors.
Mobile Tokens: Mobile tokens facilitate the authentication process as the user
can gain access by feeding a credential or scanning a QR code from a
smartphone. Even though mobile tokens are convenient for users, it still comes
with risks as anyone who’s able to get a copy of the QR can use it to access the
system.
Push-based Authentication Tokens: This method is an upgrade from the OTPs
and mobile tokens and comes with improved usability. To enable access, a
software or system will send an encrypted message that the user can only
open with an app. When reaching this app, the user would either have to
approve or disapprove the attempt. On approval, a unique internal OTP would
be generated from the app and sent to the original location for more secure
authentication.
Implement Essential 8 Now!
Australia Essential 8 has become a basic need for various organisations to
continue working securely amidst the constant threat of cyberattacks. If you
don’t know where to start, you can rely on Onsite Helper to learn more about
the Essential 8 and implementing it. Contact enquiries@onsitehelper.com or
call 1300 889 839 to know more.