Are your shared workstations secured against cyber attacks?
This article is published in Yubico Blog.
Shared workstation environments are common across many industries –from point-of-sale (POS) terminals in retail and grab-and-go devices for healthcare workers to call center kiosks and shared computers on manufacturing shop floors.
While there can be cost savings and increase in productivity when multiple employees share, this can pose a significant security threat to businesses if strong protection measures are not taken to make sure that only the right users can log in.
Frequent shift rotations, seasonal employees and high staff turnover often lead to insecure shared workspace practices, such as shared login credentials or visible sticky notes with passwords written on them. Credentials remain a top target for cybercriminals, with 81% of data breaches caused by stolen or weak passwords – demonstrating that static credentials are not secure.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an easy first line of defense against the risks posed by shared workspaces, but not all forms of MFA are created equal. Mobile-based legacy MFA tools – such as SMS, OTP codes and push notifications – are highly susceptible to cyberattacks like phishing, brute force attacks, Man-in-The-Middle (MiTM) attacks, malware and SIM swapping.
Mobile MFA has several important security vulnerabilities: there is no real guarantee that a private key ends up on a secure element on the mobile device, an OTP code or private key could be intercepted in some way, and it is impossible to ensure proof of possession.
Beyond security, mobile MFA brings further challenges: mobile devices may run out of battery, and their use may even be prohibited – especially in customer-facing roles or high-security areas.
Replacing legacy MFA with phishing-resistant MFA solutions such as hardware security keys like the YubiKey is a cost-effective solution that offers increased protection from increasingly sophisticated attacks like phishing for shared workstation environments.
Key considerations for securing shared workstation environments
In assessing the best form of authentication for your shared workspace, remember to consider efficiency, reliability, cost and external variables that can negatively affect solution performance, such as mobile signal and battery life.
If your business uses shared devices, it’s important to ask questions related to your current security posture and what can be improved:
- How do you verify a user logging into a device is legitimate?
- How do you ensure a user is able to seamlessly authenticate into multiple devices?
- How do you ensure consistent authentication that always works, even in tough environments with varying degrees of connection?
- How do you reduce the number of authentication-related support tickets?
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Source – Yubico Blog
