6-2 Short Paper_Information Assurance – Counting on Countermeasures

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Southern New Hampshire University *

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-505

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Information Systems

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May 15, 2024

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docx

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6

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1 Information Assurance – Counting on Countermeasures Soua Vang Southern New Hampshire University IT-505 Core Technologies
2 Abstract Authentication is usually associated with proving a user’s identity by providing credentials for an agreement piece of information between the system and the user. This countermeasure refers to proving some fact of a genuine document, which can require a username and password. The process of this countermeasure is through gaining access to digital resources comes with three steps: identification, authentication, and authorization. Overall, the authentication mitigation strategy is to reduce risk and protect sensitive data, including helping businesses and users to protect their data and systems from getting hacked. Clients who invest in authentication will gain benefits such as limiting data breaches, managing, reducing costs, and achieving regulatory compliance. One example that can illustrate the use of authentication is access to a user account on a service like Facebook or Gmail, where the user will input correct login credentials or enter a password code for the user. For the authentication to work, the client will request authorization from the authentication server, to which the server will return access to the application. Then, the application will apply for access to a protected route through an API. Authentication vulnerabilities can allow hackers to gain access to personal information and functionality. To mitigate the authentication vulnerability, the client must keep their apps and servers up to date to block hackers, secure data information with robust passwords, etc. One of the authentication limitations is a system compromise of financial institutions that would cause transactions to be initiated. However, the measure of solid authentication may not eliminate the potential for fraudulent transactions.
3 Authentication was created in the 1960s when modern computers became well-known in research institutes and universities. Back then, computers became massive, and most universities only had one where students and researchers had to share. Therefore, this led to other users being able to access other users’ data information with no restriction. In addition, authentication was created by a student at MIT, where a basic password program prompts users to enter their password. Authentication is defined as “the process of proving that some fact or some document is genuine…this term is typically associated with proving a user’s identity…user proves their identity by providing their credentials, that is, an agreed piece of information shared between the user and the system.” (“What is Authentication?”, n.d.) Some specific credentials, such as username and password, are known as an authentication factor or single-factor authentication. These authentications increase its security because “research has shown that around 76% of companies have experienced a phishing attack, while 81% of data breaches are based on stolen or weak passwords.” (“What is Authentication?”, n.d.) Additional authentication, like Two- factor authentication, is created to increase the security of the process so the user’s account will be more secure. Those that use authentication, like finance, healthcare, government, and hospitality, as most of these industries are moving to online services. These industries usually use Two-factor authentication because the authentication “mitigates the risk of the automated attacks that plague single password authentication solutions.” (“Which Industries Require Two-Factor Authentication?”, n.d.) An example of access to a Gmail account will be illustrated below.
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