You probably know what MFA is. But do you know PAM? This article from Sheila Grela on enhancing security in law firms explains both!

Sheila’s terrific article (Enhancing Security in Law Firms: The Imperative of Multi-Factor Authentication, available on the EDRM blog here) discusses that 27% of law firms experience security breaches – and those are just the ones we know about. So, she discusses something that can’t be stressed enough as a deterrent to those breaches: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

You probably know that MFA is a security method that requires the use of two or more authentication factors to verify a user’s identity before granting access to accounts, networks, you name it (if you didn’t, now you do). As Sheila notes, MFA involves at least two of the following three factors:

1. Something you know: A password or PIN.
2. Something you have: A smartphone, hardware token, or access card.
3. Something you are: Biometric verification such as a fingerprint or facial recognition.

It’s somewhat easy for hackers to get the first one, much more difficult to get the second one, even more difficult to get the third one.

That’s why according to Microsoft, MFA can help stop cyberattacks in their tracks, blocking 99% of account-compromising attacks. 99%! Why wouldn’t you apply MFA everywhere you can?

Sheila goes on to discuss why MFA matters for legal professionals (the previous paragraph above is reason #1), practical steps to integrate MFA into your firm’s operations, example scenarios of how MFA can protect you, and more! She even quotes Stephen Covey, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Darwin! I suspect if they were here today, they would embrace MFA too. 😉

Sheila doesn’t stop there – she also discusses PAM and provides examples of PAM in action as another mechanism for enhancing security in law firms. So, what is PAM? Find out here, it’s only one click! I can tell you that it’s really slick! See what I did there? 😀

So, what do you think? Does your organization use MFA to secure your environment? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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