Soft tokens, Mobile push notification and one-time passwords (OTPs) combined with cloud and mobile have lowered the barrier of entry for startup vendors using open source platforms to provide multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions.

Creating ease of use and a positive end user experience is the focus of new age MFA solutions and mobile push notification is the preferred method of authentication for cloud MFA providers.

For a few cents to a dollar, per user, per month — an organization can enable MFA for their apps. Federation and single sign-on (SSO) is also included in the price with standards like Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and OpenID Connect (OIDC).

Now, MFA is a new commodity. Is a basic MFA, Federation, or SSO solution enough for your organization?

Perhaps for the time being, you don’t see the need for anything more than MFA. Or, you want to get the compliance monkey off your back by implementing a solution while fighting the battle against a corporate compliance deadline.

As your organization matures in digital business — and extended use cases like online customer account creation, self-service, and privileged account management come into play — your organization will need a solution that addresses identity assurance rather than a point MFA offering.

Identity assurance applies trust in these three ways:

1. It establishes trust by ensuring device reputation, by proofing user identity and by issuing appropriate credentials.

2. It uses trust for access and transactions via Adaptive Authentication that ties into a layered security model.

3. It maintains trust using user Behavioral analytics and machine learning technologies.

Identity Assurance will provide you with a foundation that will help you address the needs of your business today and the growing security needs of your business in future. Don’t restrict your organization to a simple point solution that is an always on two-factor authentication. Such a limited solution will provide your employees, partners and customers with a high-friction, frustrating experience — that could be detrimental to business growth and productivity.

The best way forward is to get a solution that will be adaptive and takes the F out of authentication — factors, friction and frustration.

Learn about our latest authentication award from Frost & Sullivan.