In the daily operations of a business, it’s normal for employees to need to access multiple accounts or collaborate across accounts to get their work done. In some cases, though, it may be impractical to have multiple accounts for the same service. When this happens, it’s common for employees to share passwords.
Password sharing in a business setting can be dangerous, exposing sensitive company information to outsiders who may use it for ill intent. There are a few ways you can mitigate this danger, but first, it’s best to understand why password sharing happens and what exactly those dangers are.
According to research conducted by popular survey company Survey Monkey, an estimated 32 million employees in the United States share passwords. But why? Per the respondents to this survey, most people who share their passwords (about one-third of participants), at least in a work setting, do so to collaborate with their teammates. Other reasons found in the survey included following company procedures and reducing costs.
This makes sense; a company may not have the resources to pay for separate subscriptions to certain services for all of their employees or may not use the service enough to justify the extra cost. Having some employees share a single paid account might be more practical in these scenarios. Additionally, having everyone work from the same account can make collaboration easier by allowing employees to save their work to the same location and access others’ work as needed without the intermediary steps of sharing documentation through messaging or emails.
As common as it is, though, password sharing can still be dangerous.
The first and most obvious risk of sharing passwords is that of the person with whom the password is shared being a bad actor. Phishing schemes are incredibly common, accounting for 3.4 billion spam emails sent every day and being the most common cause of data breaches. These scams rely on a person voluntarily sharing their password with a party pretending to be some kind of authority.
Even if the person with whom you are sharing your password is not a bad actor themselves, however, password sharing can still lead to accessing sensitive information through unsecured networks. It is incredibly difficult to regulate server access if employees share information and access it via external networks such as remote office setups or public computers.
Additionally, if any changes are made to the sensitive data via an external network, tracking who made the changes and why is much more difficult. This may mean that your internal data is susceptible to abuse by jaded former employees or dishonest employees looking to profit from your work in some way. This may mean anything from unauthorized social media posts that may greatly damage the company image to the misuse of customer information to potential serious loss of revenue.
All of this being said, there will still be scenarios in which you may need to share an account across multiple employees or access points. Here are some tips from Forbes on how to share passwords safely.
It’s also a good idea to implement multi-factor authentication into all of your accounts. MFA adds layers of security to accounts and limits access to those with the appropriate information and identifying factors. Consider adding a more advanced MFA solution such as Photolok to your data. Photolok, a new technology from Netlok, allows users to upload and label photos to be used as identifiers; they simply select their photo from a grid to access their account. There is also an option to create a Duress photo, which will allow access for the user in the event of a forced authentication but will also alert the appropriate authorities so that the breach can be addressed quickly and safely.
If you are a business looking to implement MFA, consider using a more advanced authentication method such as Photolok IdP. Photolok is a passwordless IdP that is simple, effective, and offers a range of benefits including AI and ML defense, device authorization, and one-time-use authenticators. With Photolok, users select images and label them for security use. When accessing a network, application, and/or API, users simply choose their account photos in several photo panels, and they are given access. Users can also label a photo as Duress, which acts as a silent alarm. The Duress option allows the user access but notifies IT administrators that the user’s account is compromised and they need to execute the company’s security procedure quickly to protect the company and the user’s safety.
Read More: Phishing Attacks Surge By 173% In Q3, 2023
Read More: The Need for a Paradigm Change to Mitigate Password Vulnerability From Artificial Intelligence
Read More: Fortify Security: Investing in Advanced Authentication Solutions
Cyber scams like phishing trick people into disclosing personal information or downloading malware that can then result in bad actors using these stolen identities for fraudulent activities that cost companies and individuals billions of dollars annually.
To stay safe, it’s important to understand what phishing attacks are, the different types of scams, and how to prevent them. Let’s explore a recent report that highlights the prevalence of phishing attacks and the industries that are most affected, as well as what you can do to prevent phishing attacks for yourself and your business.
A phishing attack is a form of cyber scam that uses falsified credentials – a fake email from an established company, a fake identity as a customer service or government representative, a fake homepage for a social media site, etc. – to steal identifying information like usernames and passwords from individuals, trick users into downloading dangerous malware, or taking other actions that might leave them vulnerable to other cybercrime. This is most commonly done via email or direct message on social media by claiming there’s been some kind of security incident or contest requiring you to log into your account or provide information.
Phishing relies heavily on social engineering, or forcing someone to take action via social pressure or manipulation. These attacks rely on making you feel as if you’ve done something wrong – made a bad purchase, trusted the wrong company, had a transaction bounce, etc. They also rely on creating a sense of urgency, the idea that you’ll need to resolve the problem right now or risk it getting substantially worse.
There are several types of phishing attacks to consider.
According to a new report from Vade Secure, phishing attacks have risen by 173% in Q3 of 2023 alone. The researchers comment that August was the most heavily affected month, sporting more than 207.3 million phishing attempts via email, which is nearly double the amount sent in July. This activity continued into September when an estimated 172.6 million emails were sent.
Of the most commonly impersonated companies, Facebook and Microsoft took the top spots, keeping their places since 2020. Facebook was the most impersonated overall, at 16,657 faked URLs, and experienced a rise of 169% in the prevalence of these URLs from Q2. The company accounted for more phishing URLs than all seven of the next most spoofed companies combined, whose total was 16,432 spoofs.
Though all companies saw major increases in attacks, according to Vade, the most affected companies were
The only industry that saw a decline in phishing attempts was Internet and telecommunications.
There are many things you can do to recognize and prevent fallout from a phishing attack. Here are some helpful tips.
One of the best things you can do to secure your data is to implement multi-factor authentication on your accounts. This makes it more difficult for scammers to gather all of the required information to access your data by layering security together.
If you are a business looking to implement MFA, consider using a modern, more advanced authentication method such as Photolok. Photolok is a passwordless IdP that is simple, effective, and offers a range of benefits including AI and ML defense, device authorization, and one-time-use authenticators. With Photolok, users submit images and label them for use as authenticators. When attempting to access the system, they simply choose their image from a grid. They can also label an image as Duress, which allows them access but notifies administrators so that, if they are forced to access the account, the proper authorities can be notified quickly for their safety.
You can request a demonstration of the Photolok system for further details and a consultation to see how this advanced authentication system can benefit your business.
If you are a business looking to implement MFA, consider using a more advanced authentication method such as Photolok IdP. Photolok is a passwordless IdP that is simple, effective, and offers a range of benefits including AI and ML defense, device authorization, and one-time-use authenticators. With Photolok, users select images and label them for security use. When accessing a network, application, and/or API, users simply choose their image from several photo panels, and they are in. Users can also label a photo as Duress, which acts as a silent alarm. The Duress option allows the user access but notifies IT administrators that the user’s account is compromised and they need to execute the company’s security procedure quickly to protect the company and the user’s safety.
With the Biden Administration announcing new guidelines for AI safety – including requiring innovators to share critical information with the federal government – it is clear that cybersecurity stakeholders must also defend against the serious threat AI poses to online security, privacy, and data protection.
Fortunately, Photolok IdP is available today and has been tested and found to protect against AI attacks. Photolok, a passwordless IdP, employs photos in place of passwords and uses OAuth for authentication and Open ID Connect for integration. To understand Photolok and how it protects against AI attacks, it is important to understand how AI/ML tools and techniques have made it easier for hackers to get around current password security methods.
AI/ML tools are enabling hackers to scrape the internet for personal data and find passwords. When combined with social engineering, AI technics can decipher passwords far more quickly than earlier systems. The reality is that AI password crackers can breach most passwords in seconds and more difficult ones in minutes. For example, hackers can attempt millions of possible passwords each minute using AI-driven brute-force attacks that enable hackers to take advantage of password complexity flaws. While longer passwords and phrases make it more challenging, as computational capabilities of AL and ML continue to evolve, those solutions will experience a significant reduction in efficacy.
AI technologies are also negating the cybersecurity value of two-factor authentication. For example, the common use of CAPTCHAs, known as Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, are becoming obsolete. AI bots have become so adept at mimicking the human brain and vision that CAPTCHAs are no longer a barrier.
Making CAPTCHAs more complex is not the answer. Cengiz Acartürk, a cognition and computer scientist at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, says that there’s a problem with designing better CAPTCHAs because they have a built-in ceiling. “If it’s too difficult, people give up,” Acartürk says. Whether CAPTCHA puzzles are worth adding to a website may ultimately depend on whether the next step is so important to a user’s experience that a tough puzzle won’t turn away visitors while providing an appropriate level of security. AI bots are better than humans at solving CAPTCHA puzzles (qz.com)
Another way AI undermines passwords is via the use of keylogging. The use of AI can enable keyloggers to keep track of your keystrokes in order to retrieve your passwords. According to a University of Surrey study, artificial intelligence can be trained to recognize the key that is being pressed more than 90% of the time simply by listening to it. Using an Apple MAC Pro, the group recorded the sound of 25 distinct finger and pressure combinations being used to press each key on the laptop. The noises were captured during a conversation on a smartphone and during a Zoom meeting. A machine learning system was then trained to recognize the sound of each key using some of the data that had been provided to it. The algorithm was able to accurately identify which keys were being pressed 95% of the time for the call recording and 93% of the time for the Zoom recording when it was evaluated using the remaining data. What secrets can AI pick up on by eavesdropping on your typing? (govtech.com)
To combat these attack vectors, Photolok randomizes photos to mediate AI/ML attacks so that AL/ML tools cannot identify and/or learn any patterns, which prevents AI/ML breaches. Photolok uses steganographic photos (random codes hidden in the photo) to hide the attack points from nefarious hackers, while randomly placing the user’s photo on each photo panels to prevent keylogging and other security attack methods. Photolok also blocks horizontal penetrations and defends against external threats, such as ransomware, phishing, shoulder surfing, and man-in-the-middle assaults.
By Chuck Brooks
Traditionally, strong passwords have been a first-tier defense against cyber-attacks and breaches. However, with the development of AI and ML tools, the effectiveness of cyber-defense has been thoroughly diminished, especially from more sophisticated cyber actors who use AI/ML tools to circumvent password defenses. Despite the drawbacks of passwords, cyber decision-makers (CTOs, CISOs, etc.) have been hesitant to abandon them. But an innovative passwordless solution is available that can facilitate that change from passwords and enhance security strategies. It’s Netlok’s Photolok, a passwordless IdP, which employs images in place of passwords and uses OAuth for authentication and Open ID Connect for integration.
Photolok is user-friendly and provides enhanced security not available with other solutions. Photolok’s randomization of photos mediates AI/ML attacks because they cannot identify and/or learn any patterns and, therefore, prevents AI/ML breaches. The proprietary photos are used to hide attack points from nefarious actors, streamline the login process, and make point-and-click navigation easy to use.
With Photolok, bots are unable to recognize which photographs to attack. Any automated attack is substantially neutralized by the randomization of photo localizations. Moreover, the digital information hidden behind the images—which can be updated every time a login attempt is made—won’t be gathered by the bots. Any automated bot attempt to get access will certainly fail and result in the user’s account being instantly locked out.
Photolok makes the identity authentication journey easier for humans to manage. The photos are easy to remember, connect with people, and provide privacy protection. Photolok’s simplicity makes it intuitive and removes language and literacy barriers that make passwords difficult to operate. Getting rid of passwords also eliminates the costly process of password resetting and following password rules, which makes Photolok very cost-effective. To change and/or add new photos, users select and label a photo that are automatically saved in seconds.
Photolok IdP is an identity provider and an authentication server with Open ID Connect making it easier to integrate apps and APIs. With Photolok, users upload pictures from Photolok’s custom library to be used as identifiers. To authenticate their identity, the user just uploads, labels, and chooses security photos from Photolok’s custom library.
Photolok IdP can be used as a standalone MFA alternative. The availability of robust authentication techniques like multi-factor authentication (MFA) can greatly lower the risk of data loss or compromise and is one of the main benefits of adopting an identity provider (IdP). Photolok MFA IdP can confirm the user’s identity, making it more difficult for malicious parties to access private information without authorization.
Deploying single sign-on (SSO) technology also simplifies the user experience, which is another advantage of adopting an identity provider like Photolok. When used with a federator like Okta Workforce, users won’t need to remember numerous passwords, usernames, or backup authentication techniques, which lowers the total quantity of data that a business’s system must constantly monitor. For example, Netlok uses Photolok to login to its Okta Workforce account to immediately access a wide pool of apps and APIs.
Photolok is the first IdP to offer situational security protection in the public environments or even in unprotected remote work. The Photolok account owner can 1) Give permission for the device and browser to be used for Photolok identity and authentication entry, 2) Utilize the “Duress” photo to trigger an automated warning informing the IT that the account owner is having problems or that a malicious actor is forcing them to access their device, 3) Utilize the “One-Time Use” photo to stop shoulder surfing, and 4) Give permission for the alert message to be sent each time the user opens their account. Photolok is a major innovative development in digital security systems, particularly in its capabilities to mitigate AI generated threats. Photolok effectively removes a great deal of the shortcomings in the current security paradigm. More significantly, Photolok blocks horizontal penetrations and defends against external threats, such as ransomware, phishing, keylogging, shoulder surfing, and man-in-the-middle assaults. In effect, Photolok lessens the user’s burden while improving online digital security, which is essential for widespread adoption by both businesses and consumers.
In today’s world, information security online has become more crucial than ever. As a result, the online authentication methods have also evolved significantly.
Identity providers are the most significant innovation in cyber data security. They maintain and authenticate user information across various platforms to ensure safety and convenience.
Let’s explore how identity providers work to protect your sensitive information online.
When you frequent a website or use a service on a regular basis, and want to customize your experience or store data of some description, it’s common to create an account with that site or service. This allows you to have a dedicated user experience personalized to your needs. But how do you keep this personal information safe? Using identity protection methods and authentication. That’s where an identity provider – or IdP – comes in.
An IdP is an entity that stores and manages the digital identities – usernames, passwords, and other identifying information – of its users and acts as the verification process between a user and a website or service. You can think of it as being a bouncer at the door to an event, who keeps the guest list and checks against it for everyone trying to enter. IdPs are most frequently used in cloud computing services to manage user identities and/or authenticate devices logging into a network.
Though they are named similarly, an identity provider and a service provider are two different ends of the user-need system. A service provider is any web-based application, system, or service that a user would like to access, which stores user information behind the wall of an account for authentication. An identity provider, on the other hand, is the intermediary service that actively records and confirms the identity of a user or device so that they can access the service provider’s network.
That being said, both are important to the process of federated identity management, which is an arrangement between two providers (an IdP and an SP) that offers secure, smooth access to information and services by consolidating their information into one interactive system rather than requiring them to create new authentication credentials at every step of the process and for every unique program or application they use.
Using an IdP to secure user data has many benefits.
One of the most significant advantages of using an IdP is that it provides strong authentication methods such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), which can significantly reduce the risk of data loss or data compromise. By implementing MFA, the IdP can verify the identity of the user, making it harder for bad actors to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Another benefit of using an IdP is that it simplifies the user experience by allowing users to use single sign-on (SSO) technology. This means users don’t have to remember multiple passwords, usernames, or secondary authentication methods, which reduces the overall amount of data that a company’s system needs to monitor at any given time. This also makes it easier for users to navigate between different applications and services without having to re-enter their credentials each time.
Beyond this, using an IdP can streamline the user data management process by taking the burden of data management and security off of the service provider. Again, this makes monitoring easier, as it provides a centralized unit for auditing access events (meaning instances of users attempting to gain access to information) and tracing those events. With an IdP, the service provider can focus on the service itself and on offering a great user experience while the IdP handles security and data management.
Overall, using an IdP is an effective way to secure user data and simplify the user experience while reducing the overall risk of data loss or data compromise.
There are two main types of widely available IdP setups.
IdPs have three basic steps in their working process.
Usually, this process will need to be repeated every time a user logs into the service provider’s main system. There are often options users can select to have IdPs remember specific devices or browsers so that they do not need to log in as often.
Data protection online is incredibly important, which is why service providers partner with identity providers. This system allows users to have both an easy and secure way to access their data without worrying that it will be compromised by malicious third parties.
If your company is interested in establishing an authentication system, Netlok’s Photolok service might be the IdP you’ve been looking for. Photolok is a unique authentication system that allows users to upload photos to be used as identifiers; simply upload and label your security image and select it from a roster of images to verify your identity. Photolok even provides users with a Duress option, which allows them to choose a specific photo if they have been forced to access their account, sending a distress signal to the provider so that authorities can be alerted to the situation quickly and quietly.
You can request a demo of Photolok today to see if this service is right for your organization.
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