Stay secure online with the latest on authentication techniques, best practices, and industry updates at the forefront of information security.
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Background for this topic.
Authentication confirms the identity of users or systems before granting access to resources, typically using factors like passwords (knowledge), hardware tokens (possession), or biometrics (inherence). It establishes trust boundaries that prevent unauthorized entities from impersonating legitimate users or devices within networks and applications.
Weak authentication enables attackers to perform account takeover, privilege escalation, or lateral movement by exploiting stolen credentials, phishing, or replay attacks. Deploying multi-factor authentication (MFA) with independent factors significantly reduces these risks. Secure credential storage, regular rotation, and monitoring authentication logs for anomalies are critical defenses to detect and block unauthorized access attempts early in the attack chain.
Microsoft will roll out passkey support for phishing-resistant passwordless authentication to Microsoft Entra‑protected resources from Windows devices starting late April. [...]
Article 9 of DORA makes authentication and access control a legal obligation for EU financial entities. Here is what the regulation requires, and what a breach looks like when those controls are missing. [...]
Hackers are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in the Breeze Cache plugin for WordPress that allows uploading arbitrary files on the server without authentication. [...]