Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Week 4

Oct. 23, 2023

Welcome to week four of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This week, we will focus on multi-factor authentication.

Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, is a security measure that requires anyone logging into an account to navigate a two-step process to prove their identity. It makes it twice as hard for hackers to access an online account. When it’s available, always turn it on because it’s easy to do and it greatly increases your security.

How does MFA work? 

The first step when logging into an account is providing your username and password. The second step is to provide an extra way of proving that you’re you, such as responding to a push notification from an authenticator app, receiving a short message service, or SMS, text/phone call verification to your MFA registered mobile device, utilizing biometrics such as facial recognition or fingerprints, or entering a time-based, one-time PIN code generated by an authenticator token.

When to use MFA?

Not every account offers MFA, but it’s becoming more popular every day. It’s seen on many accounts that usually hold either valuable financial or personal information such as banks, financial institutions, online stores, or social media platforms. Any place online that is storing your personal information (especially financial information), or any account that can be compromised and used to trick or defraud someone else should be protected with MFA. Simply put, use MFA everywhere!

Now take this week’s quiz and see what you’ve learned!

Also, for students, security awareness training is available. Click here to access the education platform.

Thank you for keeping the University of Rhode Island safe!