Last week, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), the National Security Council (NSC) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly hosted the Multifactor Authentication (MFA) Modernization Symposium in order to discuss and promote phishing-resistant authentication methods. In an ever-growing cyber climate, MFA is vital to implement to be as cybersecure as possible, but what exactly did the White House have to say, and what does it all mean?
Many cybersecurity authorities spoke at the MFA Modernization Symposium, with the overarching theme being the urgency in adopting phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication. The symposium served to build on Washington’s existing efforts to improve cybersecurity across the United States. The speakers’ thoughts on going passwordless can be best summarized by CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales, who said, “You need more than a password to stay safe online – and that’s where multi-factor authentication steps in to ensure your data is better protected against malicious cyber actors…Today’s symposium is about coming together to map out the vision we are all striving towards making a reality.” The MFA Modernization Symposium ultimately serves as an excellent counterpart and follow-up to Executive Order 14028.
In May 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14028 on improving the United States’ cybersecurity efforts. To do this, the executive order tasked multiple government agencies, most notably the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), with improving the cybersecurity supply chain. This includes such efforts and initiatives as requiring service providers to divulge information on cyber threats and related incidents, improving organizations’ investigative capabilities, transferring the government to secure cloud services and zero-trust architecture, requiring the government to utilize MFA and encryption, and creating improved cybersecurity best practices and standards across the nation. For a more in-depth look at the details and implications of Executive Order 14028, check out our webinar on the subject below:
The key takeaway from the MFA Modernization Symposium is that passwordless authentication is the way of the future, an idea that we at Keytos have been preaching since our inception. By doubling down on Executive Order 14028 and reinforcing the notion that passwordless authentication will make us increasingly unphishable and cybersecure, the White House has made it crystal clear that they firmly believe in the power of passwordless. In that case, we highly recommend that you and your organization be proactive and start preparing for the shift to passwordless authentication sooner rather than later.
So great, the White House wants us to go passwordless. Now what? Well, Keytos is happy to say that EZCMS, our passwordless authentication onboarding CMS for unphishable credentials, is here to help! EZCMS is the first and ONLY Azure AD passwordless onboarding tool that supports all three of Azure CBA, FIDO2, and phone authentication. With EZCMS, you can easily get started with any Entra ID passwordless authentication method, allowing your organization to meet and exceed the identity requirements established by Executive Order 14028 and reinforced by the MFA Modernization Symposium.
To learn more about how EZCMS can aid in your organization’s quest to go passwordless and comply with the White House’s initiatives, check out the EZCMS product page or schedule a call with one of our passwordless authentication experts today!
