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Following major corporate scandals, most notably the high-profile cases of Enron, WorldCom and Tyco, the United States Congress responded by enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The rationale for this federal law, which introduces provisions for stringent financial reporting, internal controls and corporate governance, was to restore investor confidence in the capital markets and prevent corporate fraud. Today, publicly traded companies must ensure the accuracy of their financial statements to avoid regulatory penalties, reputational damage and legal repercussions.

In the highly regulated financial services industry, it's crucial to maintain compliance with information security standards. Doing so establishes trustworthiness, mitigates data security risks and prevents costly fines and penalties stemming from non-compliance. One of the most important standards in this sector is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which lays out an extensive framework of requirements to safeguard the storage, processing and transmission of payment card data.

When you transfer documents as part of business operations, security is crucial. The growing volume of sensitive information involved in these activities puts businesses at greater risk of a data breach. If that information falls into the wrong hands, your business could suffer from reputational damage, lawsuits, regulatory penalties and other business-impacting consequences. 

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is your file transfer systems' first line of defense. With phishing attacks and compromised credentials being two of the most common threats any system faces, MFA has become the recommended standard for file transfer accounts because it mitigates the risk that compromising any authentication method will grant system access.

Why do some organizations excel in protecting their sensitive data during file transfers while others fall prey to cyber threats? What constitutes a fortified IT infrastructure capable of withstanding attacks?

Overview

How do you strengthen a server's user authentication system? Well, one solution would be to add another authentication method. Most servers authenticate users through the usual username-password technique. If you can augment that with another method, you'll be able to make it more difficult for unauthorized users to break in. For servers whose users connect through Web browsers, one option would be something called client certificate authentication. Let's explore what this is.