Question

While attending a meeting with the human resources department, an organization's information security officer sees an employee using a username and password written on a memo pad to log into a specific service. When the information security officer inquires further as to why passwords are being written down, the response is that there are too many passwords to remember for all the different services the human resources department is required to use. Additionally, each password has specific complexity requirements and different expiration time frames.

Which of the following would be the BEST solution for the information security officer to recommend?

A. Utilizing MFA
B. Implementing SSO
C. Deploying 802.1X
D. Pushing SAML adoption
E. Implementing TACACS

Answer 1

The best solution to recommend is implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) to help manage the complexity of multiple passwords and enhance security management & safeguards in the organization.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best solution for the information security officer to recommend would be implementing Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO reduces password fatigue for employees by allowing them to log in with a single set of credentials to access a suite of applications. It streamlines the authentication process, thereby increasing security and efficiency within the human resources department. This solution ensures security management & safeguards by limiting the chances of password mismanagement that can occur with written credentials.

While Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and protocols like SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) can also increase security, the primary issue here is the multiple passwords and differing complexity requirements, which SSO specifically addresses.