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.
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Email attacks overtook exploits as the top ransomware root cause last year. Multifactor authentication (MFA) was deployed in 97% of credential-based attacks but failed to prevent compromise.
Threat actors don't need any special authentication to reach a target endpoint — they just need to know where it is.
The infostealer was delivered via CVE-2026-48558, a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in SimpleHelp, targeting credentials linking development and admin environments to wider enterprise systems.
More victims have emerged after attackers breached application vendor Klue and used its OAuth tokens to steal customers' Salesforce data.
A disabled security setting meant to protect authentication across Android versions of key apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel paved the way for attackers to steal logins and data.
Shortly after the authentication-bypass flaw was disclosed multiple proof-of-concept exploits appeared, and one researcher claims there's been zero-day activity for at least a month.
Stolen OAuth tokens, which are at the root of these breaches, "are the new attack surface, the new lateral movement," a researcher notes.
Threat actors know how to bypass security systems outside of traditional IT environments. Implementing 2FA could provide a needed extra security barrier in the physical world.
The authentication bypass flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-35616, is the latest in a series of Fortinet vulnerabilities that have been exploited in the wild.
"Skull vibration harmonics generated by vital signs" can be used to sign in to VR, AR, and MR headsets, according to emerging research.
Attackers can execute arbitrary code without authentication if Oracle's Identity or Web Services Managers are exposed to the Web.
The phishing-as-a-service platform was popular among cyber threat actors because of its ability to bypass multifactor authentication defenses.
It's time to phase out the "patch and pray" approach, eliminate needless public interfaces, and enforce authentication controls, one expert says.
Ransomware defense requires focusing on business resilience. This means patching issues promptly, improving user education, and deploying multi-factor authentication.
To stop the ongoing attacks, the cybersecurity vendor took the drastic step of temporarily disabling FortiCloud single sign-on (SSO) authentication for all devices.
Reports of patients being cared for by unqualified home-care aides with fake identities continue to emerge, highlighting a need for more stringent identity authentication.
CVE-2025-54603 gave attackers an opening to disrupt critical operational technology (OT) environments and steal data from them.
The security company looks to tackle new authentication challenges that could lead to credential leakage, as enterprises increasingly leverage AI browser agents.
GitHub will address weak authentication and overly permissive tokens in the NPM ecosystem, following high-profile threat campaigns like those involving Shai-Hulud malware.
The breach kickstarted a massive supply chain attack that led to the compromise of hundreds of Salesforce instances through stolen OAuth tokens.