As our world becomes increasingly connected and hackers become ever more adept at finding ways around our attempts to keep our data safe, it’s clear that increasing our security measures is becoming absolutely vital. 

In this article, we discuss four of the top emerging security measures that are being embraced around the world, and give you a brief rundown of why they are so important. 

Biometric security 

Biometric security has become increasingly popular over the past few years – think voice recognition, fingerprint scans, and facial recognition. There’s a very good reason for its increased popularity: it is more secure than other options such as passwords or e-mail and SMS verification. 

Biometric security has come a long way, and it’s still being developed. Today, even crypto companies are using biometric security to secure their wallets. For instance, Avarta is a company designed to provide crypto companies and the blockchain industry with established standards of authentication and proof of identity that serve the industry. 

Avarta allows users to consolidate all of their crypto data into a single wallet that requires no passwords (we’ve all heard of the guy who has been searching through landfill for eight years to find his lost Bitcoin wallet worth $350 million), and no keys that need to be written down in a safe place. 

Through the use of biometrics and device data, Avarta promises a completely secure wallet for users that has a trust score with a military grade level of authentication assurance. 

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) 

Virtually every website now utilizes MFA as the bare minimum when a user tries to sign in to an account from an unfamiliar location.

This security method requires users to provide two or more verification factors in order to gain access to an account. For instance, a user might be asked to recall a number or code sent to them through e-mail or text, or they might be asked to answer a security question. 

This has become a vital tool online, given that usernames and passwords are becoming increasingly vulnerable to brute force attacks by third parties. This happens when hackers work through all possible combinations of usernames and passwords, hoping that they will correctly guess the answer. 

Most websites, from Amazon, to Facebook, to YouTube, now require MFA. 

Raising awareness of phishing attacks 

This one seems obvious – you might even think it’s too obvious to be on this list. But raising awareness of scams and phishing attacks is one of the biggest – and most effective – steps that employers can take to prevent their businesses from being compromised. 

Phishing is a huge threat, and it becomes more widespread every year. A report published by CISCO in 2021 revealed that, along with crypto, phishing was at the top of the list when it came to cybersecurity threads (yet another reason why we need biometric security on our wallets!). 

The report suggested that at least one person clicked on a phishing link in approximately 86% of organizations, and that phishing is responsible for approximately 90% of data breaches. 

Passports

This might seem like a strange addition to the list, given that passports have been around for a very long time – in fact, one of the earliest known references to paperwork that served in a role similar to that of a passport dates back to approximately 450 BC in the Hebrew Bible. But the success and longevity of the passport is the exact reason why it is on this list. 

Interestingly, this links in with the first point in our list, given that many nations are planning to use – or they already use – biometric passports. They were introduced as a way for countries to increase the security of their borders in response to the increasing threat of identity theft and terrorism. 

These passports contain an embedded microchip that means machines can read them. This will make passports even more secure, and make it much more difficult to create counterfeits. 

As technology adapts and hackers figure out ways to overcome these barriers, there is no doubt that we will have to revisit these security measures and update them in the future. For now, however, these methods remain exceedingly good at maintaining security.