Facial Biometrics: Protecting America’s Infrastructure from Cyberattack

The war between Russia and Ukraine has not only occurred on the ground but also online. Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, there has been an 800% increase in suspected Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks which was observed by the cyber enterprise risk management firm Stellar Cyber.

Accordingly, the deputy national cyber director of national cybersecurity at the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director, Neal Higgins, said that he fears possible aggressive attacks from Russia moving forward. Making matters worse, several cybercrime groups have allied with the Russian government.

Even before the attack, there have been multiple attempts and ransomware incidents against critical U.S infrastructure sectors. Since then, bad actors have continuously employed ways to bypass security defenses and cybercriminal activity targeting American infrastructure and prominent infrastructure companies have also been on the rise.

Russia’s cyberwar capabilities have long been a cause for concern. In truth, the country has records of coordinating cyber-attacks on the U.S, Ukraine, and other adversaries. Considering the recent cyber threats and the fear of their potential results, the American cybersecurity ecosystem has reached a boiling point.

In 2021, President Joe Biden has mandated the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA) to improve national security as it can effectively make it harder for criminals to breach. Following this executive order, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OBM) released a federal strategy to move the U.S government toward a “zero trust’ approach.

Zero trust refers to a strategic approach to cybersecurity that can secure an organization by asserting that no user or application should be trusted by default. This approach is implemented driven by the assumption that bad actors are becoming sophisticated day by day and internal and external threats to network security as always present.

Considering such threats, inadequate security configurations, and other poor cyber hygiene practices, achieving “zero trust” has become a national concern. With that being said, both public and private sectors must adopt MFA for identity proofing.

In particular, the use of facial biometric authentication is an excellent way to achieve zero trust. Facial biometric authentication is a consent-based facial matching system. With authID’s one-time “selfie”, authID’s Verified™ confirms the consent to conduct specific identity verification transactions. It can also authenticate an individual’s biometrics in real-time.

Using a biometric multifactor authentication solution is a great step in ensuring robust security defenses and preventing bad actors from committing fraudulent acts.

Want to learn more? Read this article from authID discussing how facial biometrics can help protect America’s infrastructure from cyberattacks.