WatchGuard, a firm providing unified cybersecurity, has announced that its AuthPoint multi-factor authentication (MFA) solution has earned a Performance Verified certification from Miercom, an independent testing and certification service.
Evaluating AuthPoint against competing for solutions across a wide range of categories, Miercom found that WatchGuard's MFA solution offered greater functionality at a lower cost, easier setup and administration, and a better end-user experience.
“With threat actors having easy access to billions of stolen and leaked credentials and the increasing sophistication of phishing attacks, password-only authentication offers inadequate protection in today's security environment," says Tracy Hillstrom, Vice President of content strategy and experience, WatchGuard.
“MFA is now essential for organisations to verify the identity of workers wherever they are, especially with the shift to remote and hybrid work.”
Miercom evaluated the MFA solutions offered by WatchGuard, Cisco Duo and Microsoft Azure across 24 criteria.
The analysis found that AuthPoint provides a complete set of features for one affordable price, including many features that its competitors charge extra. It also bettered both alternatives in ease of use and functionality for administrators and end users, offering exceptional overall ROI.
Miercom noted that AuthPoint provides the simplest single sign-on (SSO) setup and usage for administrators and users.
It offers a seamless and intuitive user experience, making it ideal for first-time users.
It includes modern features such as risk-based authentication, which provides enhanced secure access capabilities using customisable risk policies.
It is the only solution among those tested that offers footprint-based migration through the cloud across all platforms upon activation, providing the highest level of security against hackers.
It offers high value and ROI with its combination of a rich feature set, affordable one-time purchase price, and ease of use.
AuthPoint uses a mobile device DNA to match the authorised user's phone when granting access to systems and applications. Therefore, any attacker who clones a user's device to access a protected system would be blocked – since the device DNA would differ.
AuthPoint can be fully managed in WatchGuard Cloud. The user interface allows one to view AuthPoint reports and alerts, configure services, and manage tokens from one location.
To activate AuthPoint MFA, follow a five-step sequence in WatchGuard Cloud, which is ready to configure users. No need to carry tokens; authenticate using a simple app on a mobile phone.
Overall, Miercom found that WatchGuard AuthPoint “proved competitively superior in authentication provisioning, deployment and security testing,” noting that “Cisco and Microsoft do not offer nearly the same amount of functionality, ease of use or intuitive interface as WatchGuard.”
“Based on our findings, WatchGuard AuthPoint proved competitively superior, earning the Miercom Performance Verified certification in recognition of its high TCO value, user-friendly, and effective MFA capabilities,” says Robert Smithers, CEO, Miercom.