Adaptive MFA
Adaptive multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a precaution that supports contextual information and business rules to decide which authentication is best suitable for a specific user at the given situation. MFA asks users to provide two or more forms of authentication before granting access to a system or application. MFA additional factors fall under three categories:
Something you know This includes passwords, PINs, or answers to security questions.
Something you have This could be a smart card, smartphone, or a one-time pass token.
Something you are This refers to a biometric factor like fingerprints, facial recognition, or iris scans.
Why is Adaptive MFA required?
Adaptive MFA adjusts the authentication requirement on the basis of the user’s device, location, behavior, and on the basis of the sensitivity of the data being accessed. According to these factors it determines the appropriate level of authentication needed.
MFA enhances security while also reducing friction for legitimate users. It helps organizations strengthen their walls against unauthorized access attempts, including those involving stolen credentials or compromised devices.
However, if MFA is implemented in the wrong way it could constantly ask for authentication every step of the way. Which is where adaptive MFA comes to play, making the application of MFA in the system more user friendly while not compromising security.
What is Adaptive Multi-factor Authentication?
Adaptive MFA is a super-smart security guard for your online accounts, as it can organize and station in a way that the identity service provider system will select the appropriate multiple authentication factors depending on a user’s profile as a part of the process. We can also say that the authentication adapts to the type of situation. Adaptive authentication can be configurated in three different ways based on the capabilities of the identity service provider (IDP).
Static policies can be set to determine risk levels for various factors, such as user roles, resource significance, location, time of day, or day of the week.The system can acquire knowledge about users’ typical behaviors over time, which is similar to behavioral correlation, forming a learned version of adaptive authentication. A blend of static and dynamic policies.
As a sophisticated adaptive authentication IDP system should support MFA mechanisms like SMS verification. Regardless of the risk level adaptive authentication should adapt to it and provide the appropriate level of authentication. With the help of adaptive MFA we can avoid making low-risk activities burdened and high-risk activities too easy to hack.
What should adaptive authentication focus on?
Check which device the request comes from and see if it’s a device I have used before. Check for risky IP address range requests and see if the user has logged in from the location before. Keep a check on the applications or data the user tries to access and look for unusual activities in the account.
With the use of adaptive MFA for accessing applications and resources one can not only protect but also make it easy for IT and the end user.