How to Improve Community Security Solutions

Why Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Alone Isn’t Enough MFA is an essential layer of defense to safeguard accounts and systems—but it’s not a silver bullet. Cybercriminals continue to innovate, using tactics like social engineering, phishing, and device compromises to bypass MFA protections. A recent DarkReading article, "Researchers Crack Microsoft Azure MFA in an Hour", highlights just how vulnerable MFA can be against determined attackers. (article: https://lnkd.in/eyDwbH4Z) As we approach 2025, it’s imperative for business leaders to actively engage with technology and security teams to ensure that authentication strategies evolve to address these growing threats. Here are five key questions to ask your teams to ensure a comprehensive and user-centered security approach: ✅ How do we leverage adaptive authentication for smarter risk detection? Ask for real-world examples where adaptive authentication identifies unusual user behavior or location-based risks to thwart threats. ✅ How do we implement 'trust but verify' post-login? Request a walkthrough of continuous authentication, exploring tokenized access, device verification, and real-time risk evaluation to maintain security without compromising user experience. ✅ What are our 2025 plans for ongoing user education on social engineering? The old practice of phishing tests followed by "gotcha" moments is outdated. Instead, empower employees with training to recognize and prevent manipulation attempts. ✅ Are we enhancing monitoring with behavior-based analytics? Behavioral analytics can flag anomalies before they escalate into breaches, offering a proactive defense mechanism. ✅ Should we add stronger MFA layers for high-risk areas? Evaluate options like FIDO2 security keys for executives or IT teams. These keys are more resistant to phishing and other interception attacks, offering advanced protection where it matters most. Cost Considerations Implementing and enhancing MFA involves investments in several areas: Hardware & Licensing System Updates: Custom development or updates may be required to integrate advanced MFA methods into legacy systems. Training & Support: Equipping end users and help desk teams with the skills to implement and troubleshoot MFA effectively ensures smooth adoption. While MFA is not a plug-and-play solution, it remains a critical component of a layered defense strategy. With thoughtful planning, budget allocation, and strong executive backing, MFA—paired with adaptive authentication, behavior-based monitoring, and advanced tools like FIDO2 keys—can significantly reduce the risk of cyberattacks and insider threats.

Security: what's in it for me? I recently had a fun conversation with the CISO of a fast-growing tech company about the challenges building a strong security culture, and one thing stood out: security can’t succeed without buy-in from across the organization. In a rapidly scaling business, security teams often find themselves isolated in their efforts. But as this CISO put it, "If you can’t convince people to go along with your vision, you’re never going to get adoption." Security can’t be forced upon people—without strong support from other teams, even the most well-designed security programs will stall. A great example the CISO shared was about a new security product they implemented that also boosted developer performance by 50%. The product was designed to automate a core workflow that developers had to do every day—one that was slowing them down and creating friction. The workflow involved manually reviewing code for vulnerabilities before pushing updates. While it was important for security, it was also time-consuming and frustrating for developers, who were eager to release new features. Rather than introducing more barriers, the team found a solution that addressed both security needs and the developers' pain points. They introduced a tool that automated much of the code review process, identifying vulnerabilities in real-time as developers wrote code. Not only did it catch potential issues before they went live, but it saved the developers countless hours each week. As a result, developer productivity shot up by 50%, and security compliance improved, too. The key takeaway here is that security doesn’t have to be a friction point—it can actually improve efficiency if you focus on trying to solve problems for others. By solving a real problem for the users (in this case, the developers), the CISO’s team gained crucial buy-in. The developers were no longer fighting against security but working with it. It’s a great reminder that security is most effective when it helps everyone do their jobs better. The CISO stressed that security teams need to think beyond compliance and focus on how they can make security a seamless part of everyday workflows. When you take the friction out of security, adoption becomes much easier—and everyone can win. Love this mindset -- it's a big part of why we focus so much time at Twingate on making the experience fast & seamless 😊

If the security controls that your organization is implementing impede the user in any way, the security team will simply have a bad time. Identity security controls in particular tend to be the most visible because they affect the user's day to day the most. Here are some tips on how to improve the UX while adding security: 1. Remove extra steps when authenticating users. Leveraging passwordless authentication technology that's integrated across your enterprise products will result in a streamlined user experience that is phishing resistant. 2. Implement self service identity verification. When users get new phones or devices and need to bootstrap their credentials, make it self service. They should be able to leverage digital tools to verify their identities whether it's fully automated for lower risk individuals or requires a peer or manager to approve them in an automated fashion. 3. Be consistent. The look and feel of identity solutions is critical for maintaining security. By implementing a consistent login and identity verification experience, your employees will be more likely to notice and raise an alert when the experience is outside the norm. If you start with these three, users will become much bigger fans of driving change and security within your business. #identitysecurity #IAM #Passwordless #FIDO2