One of the benefits of the growing proliferation of mobile devices in the workplace is that there are more opportunities to adopt multi-factor authentication for security purposes. As hackers step up their efforts to gain access to company software and devices and acquire confidential data, simply maintaining strong password systems has not proven to be effective.
With multi-factor authentication, users must not only enter a password to log into to a system, but also have access to a second form of authentication. Before mobile devices became popular, companies often used dedicated tokens with RFID. Users would have to hold the tokens near the terminal they were logging into in order to gain access.
"The widespread proliferation of mobile devices has changed multi-factor authentication."
As CIO pointed out in a recent article, the widespread proliferation of mobile devices has changed multi-factor authentication. Now, instead of relying on tokens, which can be lost or stolen, users can log into systems by typing in a PIN code that has been sent to their mobile device through SMS or an app.
The upside is that, thanks to BYOD policies, it can generally be assumed that most employees have mobile devices in their possession. And yet, CIO points out that questions still remain regarding the security of these devices. Because they are not company issued, businesses have to take extra steps to ensure that they do not contain glaring vulnerabilities. They also need to make sure that employees follow prescribed security policies.
With Inventu Flynet Viewer, businesses have a browser-based way to access their mainframe functions and coordinate with mobile devices, including those used by employees. Because Flynet Viewer is built on the well-supported Microsoft Web Stack, multi-factor from any vendor is easily added, and is already included in the supported Microsoft Azure Active Directory security option. Making security a priority may be easier when the devices are all equally able to give users crucial apps.