Most people are familiar with the term multi-factor authentication, whether it be from setting up a social media account or because they have experienced MFA as a requirement at work. Multi-factor authentication has become a widely adopted, and oftentimes mandatory, security measure.
The MFA industry is rich with vendors and solutions such as push notifications, hard tokens that display an OTP, or apps that utilize technology like fingerprint scanners found on most smartphones.
That said, for every benefit of MFA, there is the glaringly obvious and consistent disadvantage of MFA: it's annoying!
From interruptions, lost devices, to forgotten passwords the unspoken cost of having traditional MFA can rack up fast. Research tells us that each employee loses roughly 18.96 hours per year to IT security procedures. The most commonly used MFA check takes an average of 15 seconds to complete, and that assumes it is completed successfully. While that number may seem small, some users are required to confirm their identity 20+ times a day.
These interruptions aren’t just frustrating, they come at a detriment to employee productivity and satisfaction. Flow state has been shown to increase productivity by an astonishing 500%, but it is as fragile as it is powerful. Studies show it can take roughly 30 minutes of uninterrupted focus on a task in order to achieve a state of flow, which is impossible if you are repeatedly interrupted to complete an MFA challenge.
Once interrupted it takes on average 25 minutes to get back into the original task, plus up to an additional 30 minutes to regain the flow state so they can be fully productive again.
Automating these challenges via passive biometrics gives employees the freedom to work more deeply, and that alone has a direct impact on employee happiness and productivity.
Passive MFA Was A Big Step Forward
Given the friction that comes with many traditional MFAs, the Twosense Passive MFA solution was a huge step in the right direction for many organizations. The implementation of automated MFA challenges allows security teams to authenticate at SSO application login, Windows login, and VPN login. Because this is done passively in the background the user experiences no interruptions.
Even better, this allows IT departments to stop pulling their punches with MFA policies. Where previously a user’s identity would only be confirmed once a day, Passive MFA has allowed for MFA at every Windows unlock and every application sign-in.
What Is Continuous MFA?
So, what if you could MFA every employee every minute instead of just the moment they’re signing into an application? With Twosense behavior biometrics and continuous authentication, you can! Continuous MFA is completely invisible to the user, so why should you stop evaluating once the user login is complete?
Twosense has developed a first-of-its-kind continuous MFA solution that is powered by behavioral biometrics and machine learning. Unlike traditional MFA that only requires authentication upon login, Twosense Continuous MFA works continuously throughout the entire session. This allows for security teams to authenticate users' identities every minute, which is 400+ MFA checks throughout the average workday!
Continuous MFA comes with all of the benefits as Twosense Passive MFA, but a notable difference between the two products is that Continuous MFA brings the added benefit of being able to stop both on-site and RDP attacks, as well as the ability to detect unauthorized access on any account in under a minute before it becomes a breach.!
Deploy Continuous MFA Today
Developed in partnership with the US Department of Defense, Twosense MFA automatically verifies a user's identity without any participation on their part. This means no enrollment, no training, and no phishing attacks. Built on zero-trust principles, Twosense MFA is one of the most versatile on the market.
Just install the Windows agent and optional Browser Extension to deploy phishing-resistant MFA everywhere, on every app, all the time.
Schedule your demo here.
