Walk This Way to Enable MFA

By Jen Easterly, Director, CISA

We’re big music fans here at CISA, and today we’re beginning a month-long mission to rock the message that multifactor authentication keeps you more secure! So, join us for MFA May!

Whether you call it MFA or 2FA, Walk This Way to learn how simple it is to take an extra step that reduces your risk of getting hacked.

We all know that the Times, They Are A Changing.  As our world becomes increasingly digitized, the attack surface grows and everyone, including you, plays a role in building cybersecurity resilience.  Businesses and individuals should always take a layered or defensive approach to securing data and applications. MFA is exactly that, requiring users to present a combination of two or more credentials, such as a password combined with a text message or email, to verify identity for login. The two-step authentication process verifies your identity, protecting your bank accounts, making your online shopping more secure, and protecting your organization. It’s like More Than a Feeling, but instead it’s More Than a Password!

It’s gonna be MFA May, and we’ll get down on FIDO Friday, at CISA because the cyber threat is real and industry research tells us implementing multi-factor authentication on your accounts can make you 99% less likely to get hacked!  Soon, we’ll all be singing School’s Out for Summer, but bad actors don’t take vacations.  They’re constantly evolving their tactics and targets and too often. In fact, one third of Americans were victims of cybercrime last year.

Whether you’re a Small Town Girl Living in a Lonely World, a Sharp Dressed Man, or a Rolling Stone, we challenge you to take the extra step to opt-in today! Start with your email account, then financial services, social media, online stores, and don’t forget your gaming and streaming entertainment services.

Throughout the month of May:

• Follow CISA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram for rocking content all month on MFA.
• Tell us on social media that your business or personal devices are now protected by MFA with the hashtag #EnableMFA!  We’ll do our best to Pour Some Sugar on your posts!
• And since we all get by With A Little Help from Our Friends, challenge your friends, family, co-workers, and fellow rockers to #EnableMFA too.
• For What it’s Worth, you can always learn more about multi-factor authentication at https://www.cisa.gov/mfa

We want to rock with you on your newly implemented data, network, and device protections.  Happy MFA May!