Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is defined as an authentication method that requires more than just the traditional username and password to gain access to an application, account, or device. Other layers of authentication can include one-time passwords (OTPs), key fobs, USB-based key generators, smart cards, and biometric identification. This article lists the top 10 MFA software solutions in 2021.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Multi-Factor Authentication Solution?
- Key Must-Have Features of a Multi-Factor Authentication Solution
- Top 10 Multi-Factor Authentication Software Solutions for 2021
What Is a Multi-Factor Authentication Solution?
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires more than just the traditional username and password to gain access to an application, account, or device. Other layers of authentication may include one-time passwords (OTPs), key fobs, USB USB-based key generators, smart cards, and biometric identification.
When systems rely on just passwords for authentication, the onus of security is on the user and how good their password hygiene is. In fact, according to Verizon’s 2020 DBIR report, 80% of security breaches in 2020 involved compromised passwords. To ensure increased security, companies can incorporate MFA at two points: employee-facing and customer-facing.
Key Must-Have Features of a Multi-Factor Authentication Solution
There are many factors to consider while integrating an MFA solution with your business. Here are some of the key features to look for:
Essential Features of a Multi-Factor Authentication Solution
1. Granular policies
Access policies are the core of MFA solutions. The MFA solution must support policies at the user, role, and application level. This also ensures that the solution is scalable and consistent.
2. Self-service capabilities
MFA solutions walk a fine line between security and usability. A higher frequency of authentication may result in lower employee productivity and may cause end users to drop off the application. One way to mitigate this problem is to give users more control over which authentication factors they can engage in. Users must be able to pick and modify the login types based on accessibility to tokens.
3. Third-party integrations
At the workforce level, company networks are integrated with multiple third-party solutions such as Dropbox and cloud-based SaaS services. At the user level, payment apps such as Stripe lead the integration arena. The more equipped the MFA solution is to connect with these applications, the easier it will be to adopt. It is also a plus if the MFA software can work well with existing security implementations.
4. Comprehensive dashboard
While a dashboard is something we take for granted in every software solution, it is particularly essential for MFA solutions where authentication and access policies can quickly get complicated. A single dashboard for policy administration and maintenance would go a long way in improving admin response time and productivity.
Also Read: What Is Multi-Factor Authentication? Definition, Key Components, and Best Practices
5. Reports and logs
Some industries require MFA implementation to meet compliance regulations, such as HIPAA and PSD2. In these scenarios, activity logs are required during auditing for compliance reasons. Comprehensive, customizable reports help administrators spot anomalies and breach threats. Good reports and logs play an important role in maintaining security hygiene.
6. Adaptive authentication
All MFA solutions work on three basic factors: knowledge, possession, and inherence. Advanced MFA solutions, however, leverage extra contextual factors. These include the user’s location and time of access request and the health of the device being used.
The MFA software must allow access policies to be tweaked based on these factors, for example, adding an extra authentication step only if the login request comes out of office hours. Users should also be able to access different modes of authentication if the pre-configured tokens are not accessible (e.g., no internet access). This also allows for a smoother user experience.
7. Varied authentication tokens
The number of authentication tokens that can be used is increasing, especially with improvements in tech. Biometric tokens such as fingerprints (inherence) provide the highest level of authentication, while password and security questions (knowledge) are the least reliable.
A good MFA solution provides multiple options across this spectrum. Some popular tokens are OTPs via SMS and phone calls, authenticator apps, push notifications, hardware tokens, soft tokens, biometric-based tokens, and smart cards.
8. Deployment options
MFA solutions can be deployed on the cloud, on-premise, or individual devices. Most enterprises require a hybrid of these because of the varied use cases involved. It is essential that the MFA’s deployment options cater to the organization’s existing architecture. The most popular deployment options right now are policy server deployment on the cloud and policy-server-as-a-service.
Also Read: What Is Biometric Authentication? Definition, Benefits, and Tools
Top 10 Multi-Factor Authentication Software Solutions for 2021
Now that we have seen the importance of MFA, let’s dive into some of the best multi-factor authentication software solutions available in 2021.
Disclaimer: These listings are based on publicly available information and vendor websites. Readers are advised to conduct their own extended research on each software. Companies have been listed alphabetically.
1. CISCO Duo SecurityOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: It allows for policy implementation at the user level, application level, or globally via an admin dashboard.
- Self-service capabilities: It allows users to choose and update authentication controls.
- Third-party integrations: It can be integrated with iPhones, android mobiles, and other devices such as the Apple Watch.
- Comprehensive dashboard: Duo Trust Monitor and Duo Device Insights work in tandem to provide administrators with a bird’s eye view of endpoints and activities surrounding them.
- Reports and logs: It provides multiple reports such as a deployment progress report, administrator actions report, and policy impact report. Duo provides authentication logs, administrator logs, and telephony logs for proof of compliance.
- Adaptive authentication: It offers adaptive security policies such as new user security policies, location-specific access policies, etc.
- Multiple deployment options: The Duo Mobile app provides 2FA capabilities to devices on-premise and on the cloud. Duo Restore provides users with the ability to back up and restore the Duo Mobile app.
Supported authentication methods: TOTP passcodes, Duo push for push notification-based authentication, SMS passcodes and phone callbacks, U2F USB devices such as Yubico’s YubiKey, built-in biometric authenticators such as TouchID via WebAuthn (Web Authentication API), and bypass code if 2FA mechanisms aren’t accessible.
Customer support: Duo Security provides detailed online documentation. Duo Support can be contacted by initiating a case, sending an email, calling, or launching a one-on-one chat. Duo Care Premium Customer Support provides 24×7 support with prioritized issue resolution.
Pricing: Duo provides four subscription packs with varying feature support:
- Duo Free – Free up to 10 users
- Duo MFA – $3 per user per month
- Duo Access – $6 per user per month
- Duo Beyond – $9 per user per month
Editorial comments: Duo Security can be implemented across different types of organizations, from small businesses to enterprises, based on the subscription plan. The setup and configuration experience seems to be heavily dependent on customer support. Some users also report a lag in authentication notifications and policy reflection, especially for larger implementations.
2. Idaptive MFAOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: Idaptive allows the creation of finely tuned access policies.
- Self-service capabilities: The Idaptive user portal enables self-service enrollment for users to add and modify authentication factors.
- Third-party integrations: Idaptive MFA can be integrated into cloud apps, legacy apps, endpoints, VPNs, RADIUS servers, virtual desktops, and identity providers. It integrates with SSO using federation standards such as SAML.
- Comprehensive dashboard: It has a streamlined dashboard.
- Reports and logs: It provides reports of authentication activities, such as secondary authentication failures, successful login attempts, and most-used authentication factors.
- Adaptive authentication: It considers the MFA bypass period and dynamically adjusts authentication requirements based on risk.
- Multiple deployment options: Idaptive MFA provides flexible deployment options.
Supported authentication methods: FIDO2 keys, virtual and hardware tokens, OATH-based mobile authenticators, push notifications, SMS messages, emails, interactive phone calls, security messages, and derived credentials.
Customer support: Idaptive provides an online support portal for customers.
Pricing: Idaptive’s standard MFA is priced at $2.50/user/month, while the adaptive MFA is $5/user/month. It also provides an SSO solution between $2-$4/user/month. It offers a 30-day free trial.
Editorial comments: Idaptive is best for SMEs and has excellent integration with HR platforms such as WorkDay. Customers report that the pricing structure is complicated and can quickly inflate to high costs if not considered carefully. It also requires better documentation.
Also Read: What Is Fraud Detection? Definition, Types, Applications, and Best Practices
3. OKTA Adaptive Multi-Factor AuthenticationOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: Policies can be based on a variety of factors such as location, group definitions, and authentication type.
- Self-service capabilities: OKTA provides self-service registration (SSR) for users.
- Third-party integrations: OKTA Okta MFA integrates with multiple third-party apps, VPN, servers, VDIs, identity providers, and cloud access security brokers. OKTA Verify Push with biometrics integrates with custom enterprise apps.
- Comprehensive dashboard: It boasts an easy-to-use dashboard.
- Reports and logs: It provides detailed authentication logs and preset reports for audits.
- Adaptive authentication: It supports adaptive MFA by considering location context, device context, and network context.
- Multiple deployment options: It is a cloud-based solution.
Supported authentication methods: Verify OTP, verify push, email, SMS, voice, U2F, and integrations with third-party authenticators, such as Duo, Symantec VIP, RSA, and Yubikey. It also works with Windows Hello and Apple TouchID.
Customer support: The OKTA help center is available on call. It provides five customer support packages: Basic, Premier, Premier Access, Premier Plus, and OKTA For Good.
Pricing: OKTA’s MFA solution is priced at $3 per user per month, and adaptive MFA at $6 per user per month. The minimum annual contract starts at $1,500. It also provides a 30-day free trial.
Editorial comments: OKTA is ideal for medium to large enterprises with a budget to spare. OKTA For Good focuses on providing authentication services for nonprofits. From a user-experience perspective, several users report problems with constant re-logging during the day.
4. OneLoginOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: OneLogin allows the configuration of user policies at even password and session levels.
- Self-service capabilities: Users can reset passwords and request access applications.
- Third-party integrations: It can be integrated with other third-party authentication providers such as Symantec, Yubico, RSA, Duo, and OneLogin.
- Comprehensive dashboard: It empowers administrators with an intuitive status dashboard.
- Reports and logs: OneLogin generates analytics and policy reports particularly aligned with compliance auditing.
- Adaptive authentication: OneLogin’s SmartFactor Authentication™ is an adaptive authentication product that calculates the Vigilance AI™ risk score to adjust authentication in real time.
- Multiple deployment options: OneLogin Protect is available for Android, Android Wear, Apple iOS, and Apple watchOS.
Supported authentication methods: Authenticator app, email, SMS, voice, WebAuthn for biometric factors, and third-party options such as Google Authenticator, Yubico, Duo Security, RSA SecurID, etc.
Customer support: OneLogin has online documentation and webinars for onboarding customers. The OneLogin support hotline can be used to reach its support team.
Pricing: Pricing varies depending on the chosen products. OneLogin MFA costs $2 per user per month and requires the mandatory purchase of OneLogin SSO, which costs another $2 per user per month. SmartFactor authentication is priced at $5 per user per month.
Editorial comments: OneLogin does a good job of consolidating all apps that need to be accessed. It works well for organizations that require intuitive, user-facing MFA solutions. The company needs to provide activity logs and a robust admin dashboard, which is essential for maintaining policies.
Also Read: What Is Incident Response? Definition, Process, Lifecycle and Planning Best Practices
5. OneSpanOpens a new window (previously known as Vasco)
Core features:
- Granular policies: OneSpan comes with its own set of comprehensive rules and policies, all customizable and extendable to meet the organization’s needs.
- Self-service capabilities: OneSpan supports self-service processes.
- Third-party integrations: It enables third-party integrations.
- Comprehensive dashboard: It offers an intuitive, web-based interface that provides the administration visibility and features to manage a large number of users.
- Reports and logs: OneSpan supports web-based reporting platforms.
- Adaptive authentication: OneSpan’s Intelligent Adaptive Authentication applies a precise level of security for each unique customer interaction.
- Multiple deployment options: OneSpan offers seven different authentication products focusing on different platforms such as cloud and mobile. When deployed synchronously, it forms a robust MFA system.
Supported authentication methods: FIDO U2F-, UAF-, and FIDO2-based authenticators such as Digipass hardware authenticators—key tokens and display cards.
- Mobile push notifications, TOTP using a mobile authenticator app, and biometrics.
- OneSpan Sign for digital signatures.
Customer support: OneSpan’s support team can be reached by phone or email. It has an online developer and admin community. Customers can alternatively sign up for its professional services.
Pricing: OneSpan offers yearly licenses for each product, with pricing based on the number of users. It starts at $570.
Editorial comments: OneSpan’s encrypted offerings and compliance-ready solutions make it an ideal solution for finance-based and banking organizations. It also makes sense for apps that require banking transactions. While opting for OneSpan’s products, maintenance costs need to be considered beforehand.
6. Ping Identity Multi-Factor AuthenticationOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: Policies can be configured through the admin console or by using APIs.
- Self-service capabilities: It offers self-service features to administrators, developers, and users to customize.
- Third-party integrations: It provides MFA for web apps, VPN, SSH, Windows login, Mac login, RDP, AD FS, and Azure AD
- Comprehensive dashboard: It has dashboards for admin insights into MFA usage and SMS costs.
- Reports and logs: Ping Identity generates intuitive reports.
- Adaptive authentication: It leverages risk-based policies and other context-based factors such as IP reputation to determine if the customer requires MFA in different scenarios.
- Multiple deployment options: It is a cloud-based solution that connects to existing systems using web services. PingID’s implementation options include a mobile application for Android and Apple, a desktop app, and PingID APIs.
Supported authentication methods: Fingerprint, facial recognition, swipe, mobile soft token, and Apple watch app, FIDO2 biometrics, security key, desktop soft token, authentication app, OATH token, hard token: YubiKey’s Yubico OTP, email, SMS OTP, and voice OTP.
Customer support: Ping Identity has an online user community. It also has online user documentation and a developer knowledge base. Users can reach the support team by raising tickets. They can alternatively opt for Ping’s professional services.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $3 per user per month for just PingID and SSO. It varies based on which bundle of Ping’s offerings you choose from, such as privacy & consent management, unified customer profiles, and risk management. It offers a 30-day free trial.
Editorial comments: PingID provides a scalable and flexible solution that makes it ideal for large enterprises that primarily run on the cloud. It does seem to lack a comprehensive dashboard to help admins with monitoring and maintenance. Reports are also very basic compared to other solutions in the market.
Also Read: Top 10 Ecommerce Fraud Detection and Prevention Best Practices 2021
7. RSA SecureID AccessOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: RSA comes pre-configured with token and access policies that can be customized and extended.
- Self-service capabilities: RSA provides self-service capabilities.
- Third-party integrations: It supports connectors and standard agents for SAML- and RADIUS-based applications, as well as for IIS/Apache, Windows, Unix/Linux, and ADFS.
- Comprehensive dashboard: The dashboard uses machine learning for behavioral analytics, business context, and threat intelligence.
- Reports and logs: RSA NetWitness® Platform provides user and entity behavioral analytics (UEBA) to raise alarms of suspicious user activity on the network. RSA Archer® Suite provides insights into how a user’s access could impact the business and its associated compliance posture.
- Adaptive authentication: Admins can set up conditional access policies based on IP address, country, trusted location, network, etc. It also supports risk-based policies such as identity confidence and threat awareness.
- Multiple deployment options: RSA SecurID Access can be implemented on VPN, on-prem apps, SaaS, Cloudcloud, and existing SSO. It can be deployed on-premise and on the cloud.
Supported authentication methods: Push notification, one-time password, SMS, voice callback, biometrics, wearables, FIDO and U2F hard tokens, and RSA Soft tokens.
Customer support: RSA SecurID Access provides online tech documentation as well as an online community of users. It also provides personalized support services with a designated support engineer or a technical account manager.
Pricing: RSA SecurID Access has three editions, with pricing depending on the total number of users covered.
- Base – $1 to $4
- Enterprise – $1 to $5
- Premium – $1 to $6
- It also provides a free trial.
Editorial comments: RSA SecurID® Access is a veteran in the MFA industry, especially when it comes to remote work setups. It is ideal for mid-sized to large enterprises. RSA works well for organizations that have a mix of token requirements, with weightage on hard tokens.
8. SecureAuth Identity PlatformOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: This platform allows for geo-location-based policies, triggering step-up MFA on location anomalies.
- Self-service capabilities: It allows users to auto-enroll their devices/browsers.
- Third-party integrations: It integrates with third-party risk assessment tools. It also integrates with user directories such as AD, LDAP, or SQL, and streamlines login with Desktop SSO.
- Comprehensive dashboard: SecureAuth provides a unified user management console. It has a simple administrative portal to build, test, and reuse adaptive security policies based on real-time authentication telemetry and analytics.
- Reports and logs: It supports an embedded reporting and logging system.
- Adaptive authentication: It allows for geo-location-based policies, triggering step-up MFA on location anomalies. It also uses behavioral analytics based on time-based policies, failure rates, and attempts at accessing restricted apps.
- Multiple deployment options: SecureAuth offers on-premise, cloud, or hybrid delivery.
Supported authentication methods:
- WebAuthn: Touch ID, Windows Hello, Fingerprint ID, and YubiKey.
- Mobile authenticator apps: SecureAuth Authenticate with push notifications and Symbol-to-Accept.
Customer support: SecureAuth provides a support portal and online documentation for users. It also provides three enhanced support packages: basic, premier plus, and mission-critical.
Pricing: SecureAuth pricing starts at $1 per user per month.
Editorial comments: SecureAuth is best for mid-sized enterprises. Users do report facing some problems when devices cannot access the internet.
Also Read: 10 Best Password Managers for 2021
9. Symantec VIPOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: VIP enables granular policy configuration.
- Self-service capabilities: It provides a self-service portal.
- Third-party integrations: Symantec Authentication integrates with VPNs, cloud and web apps, and user directories with SAML and RADIUS standards. It also provides an SDK for developers to embed security into their own web, mobile, and IoT apps.
- Comprehensive dashboard: It boasts of dynamic rules that update in real time to match business policies and respond to new threats or user requests. It allows for immediate access to data by presenting feedback on what triggered fraud rules, so that action can be taken to adjust fraud thresholds.
- Reports and logs: It generates reports and logs as proof of regulatory compliance.
- Adaptive authentication: It profiles user behavior by identifying users based on behavior patterns, geo-location, device, time of day, and velocity.
- Multiple deployment options: It is a cloud-based service.
Supported authentication methods: Symantec VIP supports desktop OTP, FIDO support, fingerprint (Touch ID), face ID, security tokens, device ID, OAuth tokens, OTP over email or SMS, push notification, and risk-based authentication.
Customer support: VIP has multiple online self-help learning portals. It provides a 24×7 available technical support team. Issues can also be raised by creating cases in MySymantec.
Pricing: Symantec’s VIP pricing is based on subscription licenses. Prices start from $4,500 per year, depending on the number of users and support plan. Enterprise solutions include Bronze, Gold, and Platinum plans.
Editorial comments: While Symantec is a good option for large enterprises, it can be expensive for small businesses. Since Symantec’s acquisition by Broadcom, non-enterprise users report flaky customer support.
10. WatchGuard’s Authpoint MFAOpens a new window
Core features:
- Granular policies: Authpoint allows users, groups, resources, and authentication policies to be configured.
- Self-service capabilities: It allows for a secure SSO portal.
- Third-party integrations: It supports integration with multiple third-party solutions such as CISCO ISE, Splunk, Citrix, Dropbox, GSuite, AWS, and Salesforce, among others. It also provides automated token provisioning and de-provisioning, and full synchronization with existing user repositories (e.g., Microsoft Active Directory and LDAP).
- Comprehensive dashboard: The AuthPoint management UI provides a bird’s eye view of users, groups, resources, authentication policies, and external identities.
- Reports and logs: WatchGuard Cloud provides multiple views and reports.
- Adaptive authentication: It uses contextual rules to provide adaptive authentication.
- Multiple deployment options: Authpoint is a cloud-based solution.
Supported authentication methods: AuthPoint uses a push message, QR code, or one-time password (OTP) as additional MFA factors. It provides an AuthPoint mobile app and a hardware token as well.
Customer support: WatchGuard provides robust online documentation and a support portal. It provides 24×7 technical support. It also provides three support packages: Standard, Gold, and Platinum.
Pricing: AuthPoint has subscription bundles, with prices based on the subscription duration and number of users. Pricing starts at $20.
Editorial comments: AuthPoint MFA is ideal for SMEs. It is relatively new compared to mammoths such as RSA and Ping, and customers report a few teething problems.
Also Read: Top 10 Customer Identity Management Solutions in 2021
In conclusion
Implementing a layered authentication approach of granting users access to an application, account, or device is the most important step to curb breaches. The MFA market is gaining immense traction, especially with online transactions booming due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Investing in a robust MFA solution is a wise move for organizations in any industry.
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