In a recent National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) survey, 57% of respondents said they have heard of multifactor authentication (MFA), but many people don’t realize that multifactor authentication is an incredibly important layer of protection in keeping accounts secure.

MFA provides extra security by providing a secondary method confirming your identity when logging into accounts. MFA usually requires you to enter a code sent to your phone or email, or one generated by an authenticator app. Push notifications are also common methods of MFA. This added step prevents unauthorized users from gaining access to your accounts, even if your password has been compromised.

Follow These Steps to Turn on MFA

1. Open your app or account settings. It may be called Account Settings, Settings & Privacy or similar.
2. Turn on multifactor authentication. It may also be called two-factor authentication, two-step authentication or similar.
3. Confirm by selecting an MFA method to use from the options provided. Examples are: receiving a code by text or email, using an authenticator app (a phone-based app that generates a new code every 30 seconds or so) and/or biometrics (using facial recognition or fingerprints to confirm your identity).

According to the NCA, of those who have heard of MFA, 79% had applied it to their online accounts; of that number, 94% said they are still using MFA, showing that once MFA is enabled, users will keep using it.

rAVe [PUBS] will be posting about Cybersecurity Awareness Month throughout October. Click here to read more stories about the themed month.