Why Two-Factor Authentication is Inadequate
The recent rash of security breaches across multiple industries has finally pushed many companies to implement multi-factor authentication. This is good news since it enables all of us to carry information with us in case we need immediate access to medical, financial, legal, education or identity records. Since these type of sensitive documents normally contain personal identity information, you would never keep them on your mobile device without adequate security. However, the type of multi-factor authentication makes all of the difference and current two-factor authentication systems do not provide adequate protection.
Why should we worry
You may think the data encryption implemented by your company, cloud storage provider or ISP is sufficient but the January 2015 Identity Theft Resource Center report indicates that “hacking” has been the number 1 culprit of data breaches for the last 6 years, and in the last 8 years, “data on the move” has been number 1 or 2! The healthcare industry tops the list of breaches for the last 3 years and represented 42.5% of the 2014 total with over 8M records breached and the 2014 total for all industries, that reported breaches, resulted in over 85M records being exposed!
Why two-factor fails
Two factor-authentication comes in many forms from “secret questions”, to one-time passcodes sent via text or phone call, to hardware biometrics. Unfortunately, all of these methods have been already hacked through social engineering, electronic interception of passcodes or reproduction of the stored fingerprint! Ironically, the code being transmitted to you for authentication is what makes your device, files and system vulnerable and storing fixed credential identity information, such as the fingerprint on your phone, is even worse.
An innovative solution
The patented PerSysTek™ RecordVault technology uses a software-based three-factor authentication (3FA) method fulfilling the standard requirement of possessing something you “Have, Know and Are” to offer maximum security. The difference is that the RecordVault Passcode is not sent to you over the network! Each mobile device computes a “one-time” code and submits it to the authentication server for comparison. The code and resultant RecordVault Key that unlock your files are not stored in the device or the server! They are dynamically computed with patented time-synchronized algorithms and cannot be reproduced. All data is additionally encrypted and memory remnants are cleaned keeping your environment safe.
Protect yourself, your family and your employer by making sure that you utilize proper multi-factor authentication and let’s put an end to mobile file vulnerability.