Working from home, for many of us, it was fun while it lasted. For others, we couldn't wait to see it end. Now that we are reopening life as we knew it, people are scrambling to get back to the office. Many are eager to escape makeshift dining room desks that compete with family life and chaos or crave the social interaction and other structures that office environments provide. You might be in a combination situation, where you put in hours both at home and in the office. Either way, we are all going back, whether you are ready or not.

The amount of headlines regarding Cybersecurity and breaches is astronomically high in today’s news. Cybercrimes are increasing year over year at exponential rates, and they are proving to be successful. In 2019, 65% of businesses fell victim to a phishing email. Organizations are asking the question, “How do we stay safe?” Although there is no guaranteed way to stay safe from attacks, education is the key to create a solid line of defense against cybercrimes.

Verizon recently released their 2021 Mobile Security Index report, and in it, they summarized their research findings by looking at 856 IT professionals. These people buy, secure, and manage the mobile and internet of things (IoT) devices for their companies.

In a year of firsts and unexpected experiences, what did they find?

The majority of us aren't doing what needs to be done to secure our personal and professional information. 45% of people believe that their companies were rushed to mobilize remotely, and therefore have had to sacrifice security to "get the job done." And while remote working was at one point a necessity, now it is being evaluated as a permanent solution for many companies.

In March of 2020, work as we knew it instantly changed. We were used to an office environment where physical office space was the norm. Virtual meetings were the exception and were primarily used when clients were distant and travel was impossible. Although more and more companies had made working virtually more acceptable, the trend was merely beginning. The global pandemic of COVID-19 changed all of this. Many will look back on this year and remember it as a disaster. However, because of the challenging world pandemic, technology quickly evolved and was adopted faster than would have ever happened.

The question is not whether you should have multifactor authentication (MFA); instead, what type? MFA is utterly essential when it comes to your business and personal data security. In the world of multifactor authentication, not all avenues are created equal. Although having something is better than nothing, in this case, that is not the attitude that you should have concerning your security. In 2016, NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) proposed restricting the use of SMS or voice for MFA, and although they softened their approach, they still do not recommend this method of MFA. Microsoft recently began campaigning against using SMS or voice for MFA. Today we are going to look at why the big push and what avenue is best for MFA.

In regards to Multifactor Authentication, the question should not be if but instead what kind. Multifactor authentication (MFA) is vital to the security of your network. As Brian Sherman from Valeo was quoted, “Weaker MFA is better than no MFA.” However, if you can protect your data more thoroughly, then why wouldn’t you? Let’s take a look at the forms of MFA and how they will help keep your data safe.

Yubikey by Yubiko was a hit at last week’s CES 2019. Fans of this multifactor authentication device were already singing its praises, but these praises multiplied when Yubiko announced it now is compatible with iPhones and will be available soon to all users. Yubiko is a relatively new company so many have not heard the incredible reputation it is developing in the world of data security so if you are one of these individuals, dial in now and continue reading! Large corporations like Google and Facebook, who have extreme needs to secure data are already on board with Yubiko and have seen great success with their security needs.