Page 14 - Cyber Defense eMagazine Special RSA Conference Annual Edition for 2022
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How Passwordless Can Help Us Win the
Ransomware War
By Hemen Vimadalal is CEO and founder of 1Kosmos
Approximately $590 million in ransomware payments were made in the U.S. in the first six months of
2021, more than the $416 million reported for the whole of 2020, according to a Reuters report.
And it's no surprise that stolen credentials are the primary means by which criminals hack into
organizations. In fact, the Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report noted that 61 percent of
breaches are attributed to compromised credentials.
Problem is: most companies are mired in the traditional approach that uses an authentication method
(such as a password, a one-time passcode, etc.) as a proxy for a user’s identity. Let’s consider the
shortcomings of this model.
Passwords have been around for roughly 60 years and are easily compromised via phishing attacks,
social engineering or simple carelessness, and many people reuse them across different systems.
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