Four Security Themes to Keep in Mind this Cybersecurity Awareness Month

cybersecurity

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. During this period, industries employing technological systems evaluate security trends and practices. One focus of this year’s celebration is developing a better identity authentication solution.

Companies often focus on identity, access management, and authentication strategies when assessing cybersecurity practices. Here are four themes to consider when evaluating these three facets of cybersecurity management.

Human Vulnerabilities

One drawback of human input is errors. This is one of the leading causes of major hacks and data breaches today. As bad actors improve their schemes to infiltrate corporate systems, passwords are becoming weaker, making systems vulnerable. Knowledge-based authentication alternatives include passwordless user verification and biometric login. 

Many victims that fall prey to cyber fraud are company employees. The common reasons for such occurrences are intentional breach, lack of knowledge, or carelessness. To help protect businesses from factors that put them at risk, tech leaders suggest using FIDO2 passwordless authentication. 

Passkeys Make Headway

Tremendous progress in the cybersecurity industry is indeed evident. Passkeys and biometrics now replace passwords to avoid hacking or phishing. In 2022, three of the biggest technological companies in the world announced that they are switching to passwordless verification. Apple, Google, and Microsoft see FIDO2 standards as a much-needed feature in achieving a substantial level of identity assurance and authentication.

For Google, signing into an account is also more accessible in just two steps:

  • confirmation of passkey, and
  • presentation of either fingerprint or face/screen lock

Switching to passkeys and biometrics is seen today as a safer and more accessible alternative. For example, biometric verification that follows the FIDO2 standards do not store login credential on a server. Recorded users’ inputs never leave their devices. Passkeys also work to prevent information from being shared and tracked. 

Ethics in Biometrics

Concerns regarding the use of biometrics are recently leading to growing debates. Two of the primary focus of discussion are the risk and ethical issues of the use of facial, eye, and fingerprint scans for authentication. Creating policies to achieve moral, legal, and technical implementation will be necessary to protect users against the threat of exploitation.

Here are other aspects of concern with biometrics:

  • Equality – biometrics should not have biases based on race, age, gender, religious practice, sexuality, etc.
  • Justice – open, transparent, and accountable use of biometrics
  • Safety of personal data
  • Human rights

Zero Trust Expands

Many industries have adopted the implementation of the Zero Trust strategy. The first to implement this approach include the education, healthcare, and financial services sectors.

Zero Trust has been a cybersecurity topic for almost a decade now due to several cybersecurity factors. But it recently got a highlight when, in an Executive Order by the White House, the federal government declared that it would pursue the said strategy. Consequently, other industries are also expected to follow suit after this decision.

Conclusion

Keeping an eye on the latest cybersecurity developments is a great advantage. Companies that look after the people’s best interest, like authID, are more likely to improve their authentication systems for the benefit of all.

Get in the loop with the latest news on cybersecurity through this blog by authID.