The rapid advancement of technology in all industries has led to the threat of ever-increasing cyberattacks targeting businesses, governments, and individuals alike. A common threat targeting businesses is MFA fatigue attacks, a technique in which a cybercriminal tries to gain access to a corporate network by bombarding a user with MFA prompts until they finally accept one.
MFA refers to multi-factor authentication, a layered end-user verification strategy to protect data and applications. For a user to sign in, an MFA system requires that they submit various combinations of two or more credentials.
With MFA Fatigue attacks, cybercriminals bombard their victims with repeated 2FA (two-factor authentication) push notifications to trick them into authenticating their login attempts to increase their chances of gaining access to sensitive information.
This attempt can be successful, especially when the targeted victim is distracted or overwhelmed by notifications or misinterpreted with requests for legitimate authentication.
A large MFA Fatigue attack, also known as an MFA bombing, targeted ride-sharing giant Uber in September 2022.
Uber blamed the attack on Lapsus$, a hacking group that began by compromising the credentials of a third-party contractor. Furthermore, the preliminary investigation revealed that the Uber breach was the result of an MFA fatigue attack.
Prevalence of MFA overload and its impact
Cybercriminals are increasingly using social engineering attacks to gain access to their targets’ sensitive credentials. Social engineering is a manipulation technique used by hackers to exploit human error to obtain private information.
MFA fatigue is a technique that has gained popularity among hackers in recent years as part of their social engineering attacks.
This is a simple but effective technique with destructive consequences as hackers rely on a lack of training and understanding of their targets’ attack vectors.
Since many MFA users are not familiar with this style of attack, they would not understand that they are approving a fraudulent notification.
Since the MFA notifications keep popping up, a user may get fed up and assume it’s an annoying system malfunction; therefore, he accepts the notification as he did before. Unfortunately, this gives the hacker access to the user’s critical infrastructure.
Since these MFA bomb attacks have an obvious negative impact on businesses, businesses need to ensure that all of their critical infrastructure and resources are protected against internal or external threats.
These attacks can damage a company’s reputation and erode the trust of its customers, leading to loss of customers and sales volume. Additionally, MFA attacks can disrupt your operations, cause the loss of sensitive information, and disrupt your business practices.
Solutions to mitigate MFA fatigue
In general, IT security plays a vital role in the security of your organization. Implementing next-generation security features can save your business from perennial cyber threats. The following are some of the measures you can implement to prevent MFA fatigue:
TRUE MFA
This solution can avoid MFA fatigue by helping to confirm a user’s identity by using at least two factors. These include knowledge (something you know), possession (something you own), or inheritance (something you are).
limit requests
The strategy here is to limit the number of MFA requests per user. Once a certain threshold has been passed, the account is locked and the issue is raised with the domain administrator.
Gamifying the system
This can be achieved using systems such as the Specops uReset Active Directory self-service password reset solution. This system provides users with a self-service portal where they can reset their passwords or unlock their accounts with a star-based system that gamifies the verification process in a way that makes end users more likely to engage.
end user education
Most cyber attacks happen due to lack of knowledge. You can prevent MFA bomb attacks by educating your users about security threats. Furthermore, this education helps its users to be aware of their own cybersecurity practices that they engage in on a daily basis.
For advanced protection against MFA-related cyberattacks, Specops provides r