COVID-19 has forced organizations to go remote overnight, creating a cybersecurity crisis, which must now be fixed. The only path forward is Zero Trust, creating a horrible user experience. Continuous authentication unifies Zero Trust and your existing MFA with a perfect user experience, and that is why we are offering free trials through the lockdown.
Over the last 4-6 weeks, the vast majority of companies have had to move to a completely remote workforce overnight, creating a cybersecurity crisis. This happened without notice or preparation, leaving employees without managed machines, working on home PCs and shared computers. Applications that were only available on the internal corporate network were made publicly accessible from anywhere, in order to keep business functioning.
Corporate risk has changed dramatically as a result, and not for the better. Employees are more susceptible to spear phishing. Newly accessible systems are more vulnerable to credential attacks. Firewalls are porous and remote desktop applications are vulnerable. Fundamentally, the physical security around the on-premise corporate network provided a staple of protection, which has now been ripped away.
Zero Trust is a concept and paradigm that has been on every organization’s 5-year roadmap. At its core, it is a philosophy of not trusting any network, device, or person until it’s authorization and authentication has been proven. Some key pieces of technology are involved, e.g. endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and single sign-on (SSO). Beyond that, it’s a matter of configuration: shortening sessions, frequent MFA challenges, validating devices. The goal is to enable secure infrastructure without a perimeter, which is where many companies find themselves today. Now, 5-year timelines are being accelerated to a single month to deal with the emerging COVID-19 security crisis.
Authentication is a challenge that requires user effort, and multiple factors mean multiples of effort. The limiting factor in adopting a Zero Trust stance stems from the user experience of a workforce already distressed by a viral epidemic. Every organization needs to choose to either be secure, or add to their employees’ discomfort. Are there really only two choices?
Continuous authentication is a layer of invisible biometrics that runs on top of MFA. It responds to challenges on the user’s behalf, and continuously validates the user identity across the session. It allows the system to repeatedly and continuously challenge the user for MFA with a better (invisible) user experience, making Zero Trust truly achievable.
We believe in Zero Trust. We believe in user experience. We believe that both can live side-by-side. We’re providing a free trial, with no future obligation to organizations with existing MFA and SSO deployments through the end of July 2020. This offer is valid for all sign-ups completed by May 31, 2020.