THE continued adoption of multi-factor authentication (MFA), which Facebook recently adopted, reduces hacking attacks, though users must still be wary of risk, according to KnowBe4 Africa SVP content strategist Anna Collard.
The two-factor authentication, particularly by using third-party authentication apps, significantly improves the security of one’s online accounts.
She said that if an attacker sent a phishing email or used social engineering via the phone, they could trick the MFA user into handing over their One Time Password (OTP).
“The MFA is a great additional security layer. Everyone should use it when and where they can to protect valuable data. But it is not like hackers and malware attacks are going away because MFA is being used. Quite the contrary, they will just up their ante in tricking us otherwise. This really increases the importance of being aware of social engineering attacks," Collard said.
Earlier this month, Facebook, a subsidiary of multinational technology conglomerate Meta, announced that as part of its ongoing improvements to security, it was expanding Facebook Protect.
Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said more than 1.5 million accounts had enabled Facebook Protect, and of those, nearly 950 000 accounts newly enrolled in two-factor authentication. The company was on track to expand the program to more than 50 countries by the end of the year, including the US, India and Portugal.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE