If your organization has not already implemented Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), plans for doing so are probably already in the works. A big reason for implementing MFA is monetary. Cyber insurance underwriters expect the organizations they insure to have cyber processes and policies in place to prevent a breach. With insurance costs based largely on security measures implemented, simply strengthening user authentication requirements to include MFA can reduce annual premiums by thousands of dollars.
As reported in the 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 61 percent of data breaches in 2021 involved stolen credentials (i.e. usernames and passwords). But according to Microsoft, “MFA can block over 99.9 percent of account compromise attacks. With MFA, knowing or cracking the password won’t be enough to gain access.”
MFA is the impetus for our new Aurora 2.5 release. Aurora is identity-based software providing network users secure direct remote access to their organization’s local network file system via a web browser. Only now with version 2.5, in addition to the identity and security settings of Microsoft Active Directory, Aurora can verify authenticated users via Time-based One-Time Passwords (TOTP) technology via Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator apps via a smart phone.
When set up for MFA, users first enter their Active Directory login credentials and then authenticate using a one-time password.
Once you are logged in to Aurora, user and group network folders to which you have access rights established from NTFS, are then presented in an intuitive interface similar to Windows File Explorer.
The Aurora user interface is engineered to appear and function like Windows File Explorer.
At this point, you are working with the actual files residing on the network. You can perform tasks such as copying, deleting, moving, renaming, uploading files from a local workstation, and downloading files to the workstation. Within the interface and if authorized to do so, you can also share folders with someone inside or outside of the organization.
The fact that roughly six-in-ten U.S. workers who say their jobs can mainly be done from home are now working from home all or most of the time requires that their employers implement secure access solutions to their network-stored files. Now engineered with Multi-Factor Authentication, Aurora continues to be a highly secure, and easy to deploy and manage solution for organizations in all industries.
