KARE Security Update Change Notice
In response to increased cyber-activity, Kinetics is planning to roll out a change across all KARE Foundation subscribers. This change only impacts subscribers on KARE Foundation or KARE Security Plus plans and will enhance the minimum level of security.
In the week commencing May 12th, we will be turning on ‘geo-locking’ and ‘number matching‘ for ALL Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) use, subject to your version of 365 supporting these options. We expect it will take us just over a week to roll this change out across all subscribers.
These have been options and many of our clients have already opted to turn them on. It is our intent to now make this our default setting. For what it is worth, we understand that Microsoft might be about to do the same.
There will be no cost for this change, but this will limit users to only accessing their systems in New Zealand and Australia. Any users travelling overseas beyond Australia will need to contact us to have their access relaxed for the period of their travel and their destination and this will incur a small charge. If your organisation does a lot of overseas travel, then we can setup a self-service function for you on request.
if you have staff based permanently overseas, we will adjust their geo-lock for the country in which they work. We have a nnumber of clients with staff based in North America, Europe or Asia and understand the need to look out for them.
If you do not wish it to be turned on for you, please let us know.
We appreciate that MFA can be an inconvenience. Nonetheless, it has become one of the most effective tools to protect you from cyber-crime.
However, MFA is not infalliable. Please remain on your guard and report anything that seems suspicious.
Geo-locking can be overcome by VPNs, and hackers can steal your MFA token with a ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks. These are where they have a fake 365 login page and try to trick you into entering your details including your MFA code. KARE Foundation includes an AI-powered browser scanner that works to detect these fakes. Nonetheless, security is all about layers or protection, and you are one of those layers!
Finally, a note from a recent customer experience. If you experience many MFA prompts in a short time, and you know you aren’t trying to access your system, please don’t hit ‘accept’. Instead put your phone on flight mode and contact us for help.