If you’ve ever logged into your Credit Union account from a new device, you’ve experienced the extra steps that come with multi-factor authentication. While confirming your identity can take a little extra time, two-factor authentication has proven to be one of the best ways to safeguard your personal information. We care deeply about maintaining the highest level of security at Orange County’s Credit Union, which is why we have instituted multi-factor authentication on all Member accounts.
What is Multi-Factor Authentication?
Multi-factor authentication, or two-factor authentication, is a superior way to protect your personal information. Unlike simply entering a password to gain access to your account (single-factor authentication), multi-factor authentication puts you through an extra step after you enter your password using one of the following identity claim factors:
A Personal Device
A personal device can be a cell phone, laptop, computer, tablet, or other smart device. When a multi-factor authentication app is installed onto the device, and the user wants to access the device, the app provides the user with a one-time code in an email, text message, or phone call. Once the code is entered into the app on the device, it must match the code that was sent in order to access the account. At Orange County’s Credit Union, if our system doesn’t recognize your device, it will prompt you to enter your credentials, so it’s important to keep your phone number and email up to date with us.
Personal Knowledge
Personal knowledge is some type of information that only the user should know, such as a personal identification number (PIN) they created, or security questions and answers previously set up by the user.
A Physical Identifier
Physical identifiers are something a person can’t change. To confirm the person trying to gain access is who they say they are, a biometric scanner reads either a facial image, a fingerprint, or a retina to determine if it’s the actual person.
The Benefits of Using Multi-Factor Authentication
As we continue to do more online, the importance of protecting personal information keeps increasing. Usernames and passwords used to be enough, but times have changed. In order to stay a step ahead of cyber criminals, using every method possible to prevent their access to personal information is imperative. By utilizing MFA, it’s much more difficult for someone to gain access to another person’s account. This is why Orange County’s Credit Union has implemented MFA on all Member accounts.
We Care About Keeping Your Online Accounts Safe
At Orange County’s Credit Union, we value our Members and believe in taking every precaution possible when it comes to protecting your information. We recognize that going through two-factor authentication can be annoying when you just want to quickly check your accounts. But we are confident that this extra step is the right choice to safeguard your information.
In fact, we believe in this security measure so much that we highly recommend choosing MFA for all of your online accounts that contain personal information, photographs, or anything you wouldn’t want the public to have access to.
- Frequently change your passwords and make sure they contain a minimum of eight characters, including upper and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation.
- Watch for suspicious activity on your accounts by checking your statements and using account alerts, which are easy to set up.
- Keep your devices and apps current by installing any available system updates.
- Use anti-virus software and always have your firewall turned on.
- Don’t use public Wi-Fi or unsecured access points.
- Never click on links from unsolicited emails.
Cyber thieves are adept at finding ways to get ahead of technology and access valuable information to commit fraud and theft. By taking a little extra time to login with multi-factor authentication, you are ensuring a much better level of protection for your most important and private information.