How SMS Identity Verification Can Protect Your Business

It can be challenging to guarantee whether or not the people you’re working with are who they claim to be. While it may seem far-fetched, identity theft and security breaches happen far more often than most businesses might care to admit. Thankfully, SMS messaging plays an important role in helping businesses of all sizes with identity and user verification.

Confirming identities through SMS service is an inexpensive, yet highly reliable and convenient way to increase organizational security, as well as peace of mind. Read on here to learn what the experts at Mosaic NetworX have to say about SMS verification.

There are many benefits to using SMS verification during the course of your day to day business activities including:

• Decreasing security breaches
• Reducing incidence of unauthorized access to data and software applications
• Increasing trust and engagement during confidential discussions
• Better control of who has access to sensitive information and materials
• Improving awareness of where people or groups are at any given time

Text messages are a powerful tool in verifying the identity of individuals. Since most people keep their phone with them on a regular basis, a simple SMS message can be used in a variety of ways to confirm in real-time that a person is who they claim to be. Here are just a few of the ways you can utilize SMS identity verification technology for your business.

Authorization.When you need to authorize users of software applications, choosing two-step authentication requires online users to enter a passcode delivered via text message in order to access an application. This SMS verification confirms that the person sitting at the computer is authentic and not a hacker or nefarious party trying to gain unauthorized access to data.
Identity Confirmation. From airplanes to conventions and all points in between, confirming the identity of someone seeking entry to a restricted space is made easier with text messages. No matter where your team is headed, you can always check that they’re actually the ones trying to log in with SMS verification technology.
Password Resets. Resetting passwords is a weakness hackers can exploit to access sensitive company information. From online applications to real-world smart devices, passwords are a part of our daily routine. SMS identity verification can be used quickly and securely to request and receive a new password.
Access Validation for Restricted Areas. Temporary passcodes can be communicated via SMS as a way to track employee movements. By offering a short-term, temporary passcode via text message, employees can gain access to restricted areas and account logs can be created showing who was where at different times of the day.
Requests for Confidential Information.You can use real-time SMS verification to confirm the identity of someone requesting confidential information. Whether they’re requesting access to private data or other company information, choose text messages to ensure the person is not an imposter. From banking records to patient data, text messages sent during a meeting can confirm that the requestor is authentic.

The data breach had been tremendous. One of the largest banks in the world accidentally shared the passwords of thousands of online customer accounts. Securing all this information and login access was of the utmost priority, but given the tendency of many people to use the same password across several web services, the bank had to assume that the people who had gained access to the bank account passwords also had access to customer email accounts.

As a result, sending password reset notifications by email was far from secure, since the bank couldn’t confirm the identity of the person reading the message. Here’s how they used SMS identity verification to solve the problem:

Advising Customers Through Text

Careful not to induce panic, the bank chose to send a series of text messages advising customers that their account passcodes might have been compromised. The messages were informative and directed customers to reset their account password as soon as possible. At the same time, the web team placed a field on the password-reset page of the website requiring an authentication code before the reset could be completed.

Users resetting their password were sent a code via text message to their cell phones. If they entered the correct code in to the website, they were allowed to change their password. If they entered the wrong code (or no code at all) they weren’t able to reset the account password.

Security Success

The SMS verification plan worked! Within 48 hours, more than 90% of all online users had been verified and reset their passwords. While the bank did have reports of theft and fraud associated with the data breach, the damage was minimal considering how many accounts had been compromised.