It's Time For Your Security Monitoring Company To Use Two-Factor Authentication

On June 9th, 2020, there was a mass phishing email scam that went out to thousands of businesses and individuals that targeted just about every industry, including security monitoring companies. An attack of this magnitude is uncommon, but email attacks, other email scams and breaches are not. All it takes is one employee in your security monitoring company to slip up for your business to be compromised. That’s where two-factor authentication comes in.

What Is Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication goes beyond your password — which more than likely, you probably use the same password for everything (that’s a bad idea). By adding an extra step (or factor), it helps confirm your identity before any additional action is taken. The second factor is always something physical: phone, USB stick, dongle, your fingerprint or face. The idea is that in the scenario when your password is compromised, that the second physical authentication factor will help whether or not it’s you.

Why Your Security Monitoring Company Should Use Two-Factor Authentication

According to the FTC, businesses lost over 1.8 billion to fraud in 2018. Mull over that for a moment. That’s a lot of dough. And your alarm monitoring company could very easily be part of that statistic.

We get it — two-factor authentication is a bit of an inconvenience. Let’s say you have two-factor set up by having an additional code sent to your phone after you input your password. After you type in your password, you then have to wait to get a text or call for a PIN number to input into your computer. It’s a hassle, but it’s one that can save you from debt collection scams and identity theft.

Don’t think that security questions serve as a legit two-factor authentication system. In the day and age of social media, those additional security questions are often too easy to figure out. With a little bit of time on someone's Facebook, you can usually figure out what year they graduated, where they went to high school (or the mascot), or the name of their pet. That’s where a physical second factor can serve as that extra layer of protection that you and your security monitoring business need.

When To Use Two-Factor Authentication

All businesses use an email client, whether that is Gmail or Outlook, etc. Your email is one of the first things you should protect with two-factor authentication, since so much information is stored there. If your alarm monitoring company uses a shared drive or common file sharing program like dropbox, you should require all employees to use two-factor authentication.

Another big one, albeit for more personal reasons, is your social media accounts. There is a lot of personal information stored on your social media accounts, and if by some chance your email gets breached (and if you use the same password for everything, tisk tisk), more than likely your social media accounts are compromised as well.

What’s why your company and all of its employees should implement two-factor authentication. And if your security monitoring company is looking for a reliable monitoring partner, reach out to AvantGuard to see how our hybrid monitoring options can save your central station money.