The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed the corporate landscape, pushing more businesses to shift from the office setting to working from home. Adopting a remote work model enabled companies to sustain operations while observing quarantine protocols.
About 16% of working Americans were already telecommuting in 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). However, by April 2020, the remote workforce population surged to 62% as citizens were prompted to stay at home to prevent contracting and spreading the virus.
While this change in work modes was meant to safeguard employees amid the current health crisis, rushing the adoption of a remote work setup can leave companies susceptible to security risks. Criminals may try to circumvent authentication processes, hack networks and devices, impersonate employees, and use stolen data to commit other fraudulent acts. With these persistent threats, enterprises must implement necessary security measures in their telework model and enact policies to improve their remote workforce’s defenses.
In addition to shoring up security measures, enterprises must also provide their employees with a seamless experience while telecommuting. Remote work is designed to give employees an easier means to do their jobs, but the security ramifications can be stressful to some individuals. Tedious processes with daily tasks can impede productivity and affect project outcomes.
Companies must improve their remote work model by replacing legacy systems with modern solutions that tighten security while enhancing user experience.
Importance of Identity Authentication in Remote Work
With employees working remotely, it can be challenging to determine if the person accessing the system is truly who they claim to be. Before issuing work from home credentials to a remote worker or entrusting that worker with sensitive information, a company must ensure that they are interacting with a legitimate teleworker and not an imposter. Enterprises need to replace legacy systems with a more robust identity authentication method that offers both simplicity and security.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an ideal replacement for legacy authentication methods as it provides an extra layer of protection against cybersecurity threats. The combination of authentication factors like something you are (biometrics) and something you have (device-based authentication) enables teleworkers to perform the identity authentication process in real-time, while offering a hassle-free experience.
By improving cybersecurity measures, firms can better protect corporate data, intellectual property, and other sensitive information that are often targeted by criminals.
Adopting a Passwordless System
Passwords have long been the most used login authentication credential across numerous platforms, yet time and time again, they prove to be weak barriers against cybersecurity threats as they are prone to theft and data breaches. Moreover, they often are a hard to remember and difficult to use, especially with long and complex character requirements.
Companies can replace password credentials with mobile biometric technology that utilizes anti-spoofing features to mitigate fraudulent attempts. A passwordless login expedites processes and reduces friction at every turn.
With mobile biometrics onboard, remote workers can use their camera-enabled device to quickly capture a selfie and complete the identity authentication procedure in a few seconds. With this frictionless login credential, companies can increase assurance that fraudulent individuals cannot access their systems.
To supplement this inherent authentication factor, establishments can couple it with a possession factor that ensures that only the company’s authorized device is used for telecommuting.
Device-Based Authentication as a Secondary Authentication Factor
Device-based authentication enables enterprises to register their remote workers’ known devices to their accounts as the second layer of protection in MFA. It can be integrated with a mobile biometric identity authentication solution that captures audit trails for login and other activities on the registered device with a matched biometric template.
Advanced identity verification technologies are equipped with features that can detect which device a person uses to log in and if there are suspicious activities with the enrolled device. By deploying device-based authentication, enterprises are ensured that their employees are not using the company’s resources irresponsibly or fraudulently.
Even as an added layer of protection, this verification method is frictionless for users, allowing them to have a hassle-free user experience while working from home. Coupling device-based authentication with passwordless login that utilizes biometric technology satisfies the need for security and simplicity in a remote work setup.
Drive Identity Certainty Throughout Your Work from Home Processes
Biometric Multi-Factor Authentication can also help you gain certainty and obtain auditable biometric consent to any corporate transaction you deem of high-value or high-risk—including requesting access to corporate files, issuing IT change orders, and securing bill payment authorizations and payroll disbursements.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed enterprises to adopt a remote work setup to stay afloat despite quarantine protocols. With the urgent need to implement a telework model, companies were challenged to shore up security among their employees while providing seamless user experience at a distance.
Firms must eliminate legacy systems that use weak credentials and adopt modern solutions that effectively deter criminal attacks while simplifying processes. Many are implementing biometric multi-factor authentication that uses the combination of strong inherence and device factors to enhance cybersecurity and streamlines operations.
With biometric solutions, firms can authorize and keep track of remote worker logins while offering a passwordless system. Furthermore, companies are ensured that their employees are only using their known registered devices while working remotely to prevent data breaches and hacking by adopting device-based authentication.
Verified by authID provides companies with strong FIDO2 authentication that eliminates the need for passwords in a remote work model. It allows firms to increase assurance with quick, low-friction user experiences on trusted mobile devices.
During hiring and onboarding deploy strong Identity Verification to harden your work-from-home processes. Employees use the convenience of their own mobile devices to quickly capture their selfies and a government ID to verify identity. Now you have gained assurance that the employee who chatted at the watercooler last week is the same as the one who is working from afar.
Schedule a Demo with authID
authID.ai is a provider of an Identity platform that delivers a suite of secure, mobile, biometric identity solutions, available to any vertical, anywhere. authID’s products allow enterprises to adopt passwordless login and device-based authentication to automate their remote work model, thereby enhancing security while improving productivity. Contact authID today at 1 (516) 778-5639 or click here to schedule a demo.
References:
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/10/cover-remote-work
https://news.gallup.com/poll/306695/workers-discovering-affinity-remote-work.aspx
https://authid.ai/blog/remote-id-verification
https://securityledger.com/2020/04/with-remote-work-mfa-makes-everyone-happy/
