industry news

June 27, 2013 Mark Stanislav

My Social Media Account Has 2 Factor Authentication — Why Doesn’t My Bank?

Information security can be a bit odd in terms of where we see advanced security like 2 factor authentication first. In many cases, financial companies often have weaker password length and complexity requirements than your typical social media network.

The reasons why some industries adopt 2 factor authentication faster than others

1: Industries move at different speeds

A financial institution at its core has a lot of structure, oversight, and caution. Comparatively, a social media company likely moves at blazing speed for most of what it does, learning from mistakes and pressing on.

2: Green Fields

Most social media companies don't have any historical architecture to provide backwards compatibility for. In financial companies, portions of the infrastructure may be very old or the requirement to work with other financial partners may in fact prevent change from happening without breaking communications.

There are early adopters in every industry

There are financial entities who are moving the chains when it comes to proactive, customer-focused information security like, for instance, Computer Services, Inc., a banking platform that is used by over 140 financial institutions is leveraging Duo’s 2 factor authentication technology.

What sets Duo Security apart from other two-factor authentication companies is our dedication to providing an easy-to-use API and client libraries for a variety of programming platforms. Where 2 factor had previously been a labor-intensive, heavy-handed process, Duo is able to take the complexity away from development teams and focus on providing their end-users a great experience with the added security that comes with integration into the Duo Security platform.

We're consumers, too. We understand the need to have more than just your social media accounts protected by two-factor authentication and are constantly working with amazing organizations to bring two-factor to the masses with the best experience and security possible.

What services do you use 2 factor authentication with? Which services do you want to see have a two-factor offering? Let us know in the comments!