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IT and securityLesson 2 of 3

Part 1 of 3, 0 done

14 min

Phishing, passwords and backups

Most break-ins don't start with a genius hacker. They start with an email, a reused password, or a backup nobody tested. Here's what the security team guards against, and what it asks of everyone else.

Ticket 01 · The guess

How much does a second step help?

A second sign-in step means that after your password, you also type a code or tap a button in an app on your phone. It's called multi-factor authentication, or MFA. Microsoft's researchers estimated how much it cut the risk that a business account was taken over. By how much?

50%
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Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

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Sources and every number (1)

Sources

  • How effective is multifactor authentication at deterring cyberattacks? (Meyer and others, arXiv:2305.00945, May 2023; Microsoft Azure Active Directory business accounts showing suspicious activity) · Microsoft researchers, on arXiv, 2023

Every number

  • 99.22%arxiv.org ·2023 · How much a second sign-in step (MFA) cut the risk that an account was taken over, across the accounts studied: Microsoft business accounts showing suspicious activity. An estimate, published in 2023.
  • 98.56%arxiv.org ·2023 · The same estimate for accounts whose password had already leaked.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Inside a business›
  3. IT and security
  • ·Before this: What IT does: laptops, accounts and the help desk
  • ·Next: When it goes wrong: an outage or a breach
Skip to the lesson

IT and securityLesson 2 of 3

Part 1 of 3, 0 done

14 min

Phishing, passwords and backups

Most break-ins don't start with a genius hacker. They start with an email, a reused password, or a backup nobody tested. Here's what the security team guards against, and what it asks of everyone else.

Ticket 01 · The guess

How much does a second step help?

A second sign-in step means that after your password, you also type a code or tap a button in an app on your phone. It's called multi-factor authentication, or MFA. Microsoft's researchers estimated how much it cut the risk that a business account was taken over. By how much?

50%
0%100%
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (1)

Sources

  • How effective is multifactor authentication at deterring cyberattacks? (Meyer and others, arXiv:2305.00945, May 2023; Microsoft Azure Active Directory business accounts showing suspicious activity) · Microsoft researchers, on arXiv, 2023

Every number

  • 99.22%arxiv.org ·2023 · How much a second sign-in step (MFA) cut the risk that an account was taken over, across the accounts studied: Microsoft business accounts showing suspicious activity. An estimate, published in 2023.
  • 98.56%arxiv.org ·2023 · The same estimate for accounts whose password had already leaked.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Inside a business›
  3. IT and security
  • ·Before this: What IT does: laptops, accounts and the help desk
  • ·Next: When it goes wrong: an outage or a breach