Security & Compliance

  • 13 min read

Top 10 Multi-Factor Authentication Software for IT Teams

Rohit Rao

6th January, 2023

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As an IT manager, effectively and securely managing user identities within your organization is a key challenge. This is where multi-factor authentication (MFA) plays a crucial role, providing an essential solution that streamlines identity management and access processes.

To enhance the security of your cloud services, it's essential to implement robust multi-factor authentication software that effectively safeguards your platform and minimizes cyber risks.

Multi-factor authentication is a security process requiring users to provide multiple ways to verify their identity before granting access to systems. These methods encompass a combination of factors, including something the user possesses (like a phone with a one-time password), something the user knows (such as a password), and something the user is (such as facial recognition or fingerprint authentication). 

Multi-factor authentication software is necessary as it adds an extra layer of security to your accounts and protects against unauthorized access. For example, the MFA tool makes it much more difficult for someone to access your potential data, even if they hack your password.

Different Types Of Multi-Factor Authentication Methods

Let's explore some various types of multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods:

• Email/SMS: This method involves sending a code to your email address or mobile phone via SMS. You receive this code and enter it into the authentication prompt to confirm your identity. It's a convenient way to receive a one-time code but may be less secure than other methods, as email and SMS can be susceptible to interception.

• One-time passcodes (OTP): OTPs are time-sensitive codes that are generated and valid for a short duration, often around 30 seconds. You need to enter this code within the specified time frame to verify your identity. They provide an added layer of security as they constantly change.

• Hardware tokens: These are physical devices, such as key fobs or smart cards, that generate new authentication codes at regular intervals, typically every 30 seconds. Users can enter the code displayed on the token to gain access. Hardware tokens are highly secure but require users to carry the physical device.

• Biometrics: Biometric authentication methods, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, verify your identity based on unique physical characteristics. This adds a high level of security, as it's difficult to impersonate someone's biometrics, but it may require specialized hardware like a compatible camera or fingerprint sensor.

• Push approve notification: This method is often used with a mobile app. When you attempt to log in or perform a sensitive action, a notification is sent to your mobile device. You can then approve or deny the request from your phone, which adds an extra layer of security and control over access.
  
  These MFA methods offer varying levels of security and convenience, allowing organizations to choose the most suitable options based on their security requirements and user preferences.

What Features Do Multi-Factor Authentication Software Provide?

Here are the features that multi-factor authentication software brings to your organization's security strategy.

• Enhanced security with the most suitable authentication factors

It provides an additional layer of protection for an organization's assets, data, and resources. This makes it more difficult for unauthorized individuals to access sensitive information and can help prevent data breaches. MFA software provides a variety of authentication methods, such as one-time passcodes (OTP), biometrics (fingerprint, facial recognition), smart cards, hardware tokens, push notifications, and more. These methods allow organizations to choose the most suitable authentication factors based on their strong security requirements and user convenience.

• Customization and Policy Management

MFA software often offers customization options and policy management tools. Organizations can define authentication policies based on user roles, access levels, and specific applications. This feature allows for fine-grained control over security settings.

• Increased customer trust

By implementing MFA, an organization shows that it is taking extra steps to protect its customers' personal and sensitive information. This can increase customer loyalty and make customers feel more secure using the organization's services.

• Lowers helpdesk and security management

Many MFA solutions provide user self-service portals, enabling employees to manage their authentication methods, reset passwords, and troubleshoot authentication issues independently. This reduces the burden on IT support teams.

• Reduce risks and cyber threats

MFA can help reduce security risks and cyber threats, as it does not rely on passwords alone. Instead, it uses multiple factors to verify a user's identity, making it more difficult for unauthorized individuals to gain access. Biometrics, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, are becoming more popular as a convenient and secure method of MFA.

Implementing multi-factor authentication software with these features can significantly enhance an organization's security posture by adding an extra layer of protection beyond traditional username and password authentication, safeguarding sensitive data, and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Before we delve into our list of the top multi-factor authentication software, let us introduce Zluri and how it simplifies access governance in your organization.

Simplify User Access Management Using Zluri

Zluri provides an all-encompassing identity & access governance platform that effortlessly manages user identities and access policies. It seamlessly integrates with various single sign-on (SSO) tools, excelling in enforcing authentication and authorization controls while vigilantly monitoring user activity and ensuring compliance.

This integrated approach empowers you to promptly identify suspicious activities, including unauthorized access, in real-time. In the event of such incidents, you can take immediate steps to secure your invaluable application data.

Zluri's seamless Single Sign-On (SSO) integration effortlessly merges new employees' data with their digital identity. This robust capability simplifies the onboarding process, allowing your IT admin to swiftly verify their identity and assign precise access permissions for applications and data.

Beyond the convenience, this additional layer of security serves as a wall against identity theft and acts as a guardian for your vital data, fortifying it against potential security breaches.

What truly distinguishes Zluri is its capacity to consolidate every employee's access data within a unified platform. From this central hub, you gain comprehensive insights into your team's application access, log-in and logout activities, and permission levels. In short, Zluri ensures that the right employees have access to the right tools and resources.

 Zluri's Advanced Key Features:-

• Unified Access Control Management: Zluri's centralized platform offers a consolidated view of your organization's access control landscape. You can easily manage and control team members' access to various applications through a single, user-friendly dashboard.

• Seamless HR Integration: Zluri integrates with your HR system to keep employee information current. This integration is critical in verifying employee identities throughout different phases, such as onboarding, mid-lifecycle updates, and user offboarding, ensuring a continuous and secure access management (IAM) process.

• Routine Audits and Comprehensive Reports: Zluri performs regular audits and produces detailed reports. These reports offer valuable insights into employee and application activities, encompassing login and logout events, group creation, department management, and user profile modifications.

• Enhanced Security and Compliance: Zluri strongly emphasizes security and compliance. It implements security measures to protect sensitive data and facilitates compliance with applicable laws and guidelines. It ensures that all access controls and user identity management align with industry best practices, helping your organization meet regulatory compliance requirements while safeguarding sensitive data from potential security breaches.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.8/5

• Capterra: 4.9/5

List Of Top 10 Multi-Factor Authentication Software 

Let's explore these leading multi-factor authentication software designed to enhance your organization's security by implementing multiple layers of authentication, ensuring that only authorized individuals gain access to critical systems and data.

1. ManageEngine

ManageEngine, a notable multi-factor authentication software, implements a multi-factor authentication setup for IT teams and the user's network without compromising productivity. It offers a risk-based MFA authentication process that tracks suspicious logins by monitoring time, geographic location, and IP address before granting access to users.

Additionally, you can deploy MFA across your entire network for logins and endpoints for efficient security. For example, you can authenticate your identity with faceID, provide a second-factor authentication by answering security questions, or use biometrics or one-time passcodes sent through SMS to log in without remembering your password.

Pros

• It empowers users with the ability to reset their passwords and unlock their accounts swiftly and conveniently, reducing their dependency on the IT team's support.

• It puts users in control by allowing them to manage their password expiration preferences and receive status notifications. At the same time, it allows you to maintain robust control over secure password policies to bolster overall security.

Cons

• The configuration process for this software can be intricate, requiring careful attention to detail, and it may not offer an extensive range of customization options within the service desk module

• Users may find themselves grappling with a learning curve, particularly when attempting to employ the full potential of ManageEngine.

• Additionally, the absence of robust automation capabilities can lead to more manual and time-consuming tasks, complicating routine workflows.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.5/5

• Capterra: 4.5/5

2. Duo security

Duo Security provides modern cybersecurity that is efficient and flexible for users but rigid for cyber threats. Duo ensures that MFA is deployed on all platforms, making it efficient for IT and scalable environments. In addition, it enables you to choose your MFA authentication, such as OTP or Biometrics, for your organization.

Further, Duo's MFA reduces cost ownership(TCO) by allowing users to verify their identities on mobile devices easily. Duo maintains an administrative dashboard and MFA for cloud-based models and seamlessly integrates with 2FA policy to meet compliance goals, such as multi-cloud premises, the security of SaaS applications, and secure remote access with VPN clients.

Pros

• The setup and authentication process offered by Duo stands out for its user-friendly nature. It provides an intuitive experience, making it accessible to users of all levels of technical expertise.

• Duo's push notification system for login approvals is notably efficient. When a user attempts to log in, the system swiftly sends a push notification to their registered device. This notification prompts the user to either approve or deny the login request.

• Duo offers a range of options for login approvals, providing users with versatility and choice. Whether users prefer push notifications, SMS text messages, phone calls, or hardware tokens, Duo accommodates their individual preferences.

Cons

• The notification prompt occasionally fails to appear, causing uncertainty regarding the success of the login and authentication process. This intermittent display can lead to confusion for users.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.5/5

• Capterra: 4.7/5

3. LastPass

LastPass, a notable multi-factor authentication software, enhances the security of all platforms across the organization by intuitively enabling MFA and implementing adaptive authentication policies. It also adds security layers to block cyber threats while giving IT teams transparency to control the infrastructure.

Deploying MFA with LastPass is easy and does not require training. It offers granular control and limits user access through geofencing to IP addresses. It can also be integrated with user provisioning and active directories and enables the use of biometrics for efficient and secure management.

Pros

• LastPass facilitates securely sharing login credentials with team members within a private platform. This feature ensures that sensitive data can be shared among authorized users in a protected and controlled manner, bolstering collaboration and security.

• LastPass offers a convenient auto-fill feature for login details. This feature simplifies the login process by automatically populating login fields with the correct credentials, saving users time and streamlining their online experiences.

Cons

• LastPass poses complexity when it comes to integrating with various platforms and web browsers. This intricacy can make the setup process more challenging for users, requiring additional time and effort for seamless integration.

• The system requires both biometric authentication and password credentials for each login. This dual requirement can cause complexity to the authentication process, potentially leading to inconvenience for users accustomed to a simpler approach.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.5/5

• Capterra: 4.7/5

4. Ping Identity

Ping Identity is a leading IAM solution that offers a range of authentication factors, including MFA, to ensure adequate security without hindering productivity. It provides access to the IT infrastructure or cloud services and allows for strong password policies, biometric authentication, and backups for efficient usage.

MFA is implemented through three factors: knowledge, possession, and inherence. The knowledge factor refers to information the user knows, the possession factor refers to physical items the user possesses, and the inherence factor refers to the user's inherent access to a specific role.

Pros

• It offers the ability to authenticate without the need for manual code entry. This feature enhances user experience by providing a smoother authentication process, reducing the hassle of remembering and entering codes.

• The upgrade utility within Ping Identity is designed for simplicity, streamlining the upgrade process significantly. This functionality positions this tool as an ideal platform for user authentication, making upgrades straightforward and user-friendly.

Cons

• It does not allow users to access the application through notifications, potentially requiring users to take additional steps to access the platform.

• You may find that the multifactor authentication (MFA) feature in this tool operates at a slower pace than expected. This reduced speed can potentially impact the efficiency and responsiveness of the authentication process.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.4/5 

• Capterra: 4.7/5

5. IBM Security Verify

IBM security verify, a notable multi-factor authentication software, is a comprehensive IAM platform that enables MFA for many cloud users. It allows users to securely authenticate their identity using multiple pieces of information only the user possesses.

IBM provides a wide range of MFA factors to verify user identities during authentication from web applications, desktops, and mobile apps, both cloud and on-premise. All IBM platforms are equipped with MFA capabilities. These conditions ensure that adaptive access, such as the user accessing the cloud, is genuine and based on the user's geographical location or IP address.

Furthermore, that access is granted only when the administrator is sure of the login credentials and the reason behind the unregular access at that particular time. This adaptive MFA prevents unauthorized users from accessing the organization's critical data.

Pros

• It offers a centralized platform for securely storing password credentials. This feature simplifies password management by consolidating all login information into one secure location, enhancing organization and accessibility.

• It provides users with specific customization options for adjusting risk settings related to cloud identity analysis. This customization empowers users to fine-tune security measures to their unique needs, enhancing control and flexibility in safeguarding their data.

Cons

• The platform falls short in terms of seamless integration with various applications. This limitation can hinder a smooth user experience by requiring additional steps to integrate and utilize the application effectively.

• It features a complex password reset process that involves a significant delay in delivering reset instructions via email. This extended timeline for password recovery can be frustrating for users who require prompt access to their accounts, potentially leading to inconvenience and downtime.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.3/5

• Capterra: 4.3/5

6. SecurID

SecureID is an effective multi-factor authentication solution that addresses the ongoing challenges the IT team faces, such as threats, data breaches, and cyber crimes. SecureID enables security without compromising ease and convenience.

SecureID MFA exhibits many ways to authenticate, such as OTP, push notifications and biometrics, and FIDO-based authentication. Additionally, it enables complex token authentication through the use of a hardware device for accessing organization data for authentication on the cloud. Finally, MFA in SecureID enables other authentication, such as mobile devices, that allow user-friendly logins for employees.

Pros

• The use of MFA hard tokens and software tokens within the system proves to be highly efficient and offers a secure platform for authentication. These tokens enhance security measures while ensuring a smooth user experience.

• An additional benefit is the system's ability to automatically generate tokens when they reach their expiration. This feature eliminates the need for users to manually renew tokens, streamlining the authentication process and minimizing potential disruptions due to token expiration.

Cons

•  The remote access login process demands users to merge passwords from multiple accounts, which may not be ideal. This complexity in merging passwords may pose challenges and inconvenience for users, impacting the user experience.

• In scenarios where a user possesses multiple tokens, there is a risk of misusing access tokens. This risk arises due to multiple tokens, and it's essential to manage them effectively to prevent any misuse or security vulnerabilities.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.4/5

• Capterra: 4.5/5

7. Google Authenticator

Google Authenticator is a two-factor authentication tool that adds an extra layer of security to passwords. It uses a time-based one-time password (TOTP) as a second form of authentication for users who have enabled MFA.

In addition to TOTP, Google Authenticator can also integrate with other software to provide MFA for third-party login integrations. For example, biometric authentication methods, such as face ID or fingerprint, can be used as the second factor to ensure that even if someone were to guess or obtain your password successfully, they would not be able to log in without access to your biometric data.

Pros

• It prioritizes securing your organization's financial information and provides a highly secure platform for various business-related tasks. This ensures that only authorized users can access your financial accounts and conduct transactions, minimizing the risk of unauthorized logins and enhancing overall security.

• By centralizing access, it eliminates the cumbersome requirement of remembering multiple passwords for various accounts and serves as an effective deterrent against unauthorized login attempts.

Cons.

• This system lacks a user-friendly backup option for Google Authenticator, making it difficult to regain access to accounts if a device is lost or damaged, potentially inconveniencing users.

• This platform lacks smooth synchronization between different devices, leading to complexity in accessing accounts. Separate authentication policies and compatibility issues create a fragmented user experience, often requiring additional setup, especially for users who switch devices frequently.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.8/5

• Capterra: 4.8/5

8. OneLogin

OneLogin, a notable multi-factor authentication software, is an intuitive platform for IAM solutions, including MFA. It prevents unauthorized logins to an organization's critical data and provides services such as one-time passwords, email, SMS, biometrics, and third-party integrations. Additionally, enhancing security at every platform with MFA adaptive solutions, such as geographic location time, data, and unauthorized access alerts, adds value to the organization's security.

OneLogin MFA integrated with Identity Defender can secure your desktop and safeguard it from cyber threats, reduce security gaps, and enable connected infrastructure. It blends well with cloud migrations and enables organizations to grow, manage, and secure their identities and access. In addition, it offers a wide range of services, such as OTPs, emails, SMS, biometrics, and third-party integrations. By enhancing security at every platform with MFA adaptive solutions for login, including location-based and time-based authentication, data security alerts, and unauthorized access alerts, organizations can add value to their security.

Pros

• The system excels in managing users and devices seamlessly, minimizing disruptions to operations. This efficiency ensures a smooth user experience and streamlined device management processes.

• The platform offers robust third-party integrations, enhancing its versatility and functionality. Additionally, its implementation is intuitive and user-friendly, simplifying the setup process and making it accessible to a wide range of users.

Cons

• Customizing the web portal proves to be a complex task, potentially posing challenges for users seeking to tailor it to their specific needs and preferences.

• The initial setup process can be intricate and challenging, necessitating comprehensive guidelines to ensure a proper and effective setup. Users might find it challenging without clear and detailed instructions.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 3/5

• Capterra: 4.6/5

9. JumpCloud

JumpCloud Protect is a one-touch MFA solution that offers quick and efficient accept or reject functionality for accessing resources. In addition, it enables the use of OTP tokens for JumpCloud users and admins, which can be easily installed on various devices.

It extends beyond the JumpCloud platform to safeguard Windows and VPN, making it pocket-friendly for the organization. In addition, Jumpcloud MFA offers the flexibility of accessing resources through MFA, and a one-touch policy eliminates the need to remember passwords. Overall, JumpCloud Protect ensures secure endpoints for your organization.

Pros

• The Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) feature effectively strikes a balance between security and user accessibility. It enhances security while maintaining ease of access, ensuring a user-friendly authentication experience.

• The TOTP feature provides users with the explicit ability to add an additional layer of protection to their accounts. This added security layer empowers users to strengthen their account security, enhancing overall safety and peace of mind.

Cons

• The administration panel and the execution of updates within the system face challenges in their effective implementation. This can result in issues related to system management, potentially affecting user experience and system performance.

• The password management component lacks robust security features, which could leave user accounts vulnerable to potential threats. Strengthening the security measures in password management is essential to bolster overall account protection.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.6/5

• Capterra: 4.7/5

10. Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Microsoft Azure Active Directory, a notable multi-factor authentication software, offers a robust universal directory solution that streamlines access management and bolsters security with its Single Sign-On (SSO) feature. With Azure AD's SSO capabilities, users can effortlessly access various applications and services using a single set of login credentials.

With Azure Active Directory, the burden of managing and recalling multiple passwords is alleviated, significantly lowering the vulnerability to security breaches resulting from weak or forgotten passwords. This password manager ensures the safety of your organization's data while delivering a smooth and hassle-free user experience. 

Pros

• Microsoft Azure AD offers a centralized dashboard, simplifying the task of IT teams to monitor employee access activities. This centralized view enhances operational efficiency.

• Azure AD provides robust data encryption features, ensuring the security of critical data through encryption. This encryption mechanism prevents unauthorized access to the organization's data, enhancing data protection.

Cons

• Microsoft Azure may be challenging for non-technical users, as it involves high-level coding and technical expertise.

• Azure has limitations in terms of supported integration tools. This restriction can impact workflow efficiency, as developers may face constraints when developing applications for safeguarding sensitive data and employee identities.

Customer Ratings

• G2: 4.5/5

• Capterra: 4.8/5

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About the author

Rohit Rao