Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath bats for two-factor authentication to avoid cyber risk

Zerodha Founder and CEO Nikhil Kamath has raised the all important issue of cyber fraud and how its one of the biggest financial risks.

While the rise in digital transactions has a lot of benefits, it makes us much more vulnerable to online fraud. There has been a massive spike in the number of financial cyber scams.

In a series of tweets, Nithin Kamath has listed out various way to secure oneself against cyber crimes.

One of the most important ways to reduce the odds of being a cyber fraud victim is to enable two-factor authentication wherever possible.

The two-factor authentication is protecting an account additionally with Biometric authorization, TOTP (time based expiring codes) along with a password.

Nithin Kamath
@Nithin0dha

What's 2FA?The first factor in a login is a password you remember, but it has the risk of being easily compromised. 2FA is an additional factor to secure your account. Biometric authorization, TOTP (time based expiring codes) etc. makes account compromise much harder.

He further goes on describe the different methods that are being used at Zerodha to help reduce cyber risks. He also says that using Linux would help in reducing the cyber attacks.

Nithin Kamath
@Nithin0dha

Firstly, you need actual technologists who also understand UX and user behaviour to design measures to mitigate risks. You should never be overconfident and should always be paranoid about security. Some simple, common sense measures we follow at @zerodhaonline.

1. We have mandatory 2FA even for all internal employee systems.
2. 2. Strict role based access. Everyone gets least access and least privilege by default.
3. Nothing is connected to internet by default & access is over “zero trust” networks. Even incoming external e-mail for employees is only available where necessary
4. Botnet & DDoS protection in front of all internet facing systems. Realtime monitoring and analysis systems

He has also advised to be vigilant all the time and remain almost paranoid about all digital interactions.

However, Kamath points out that there is no way to ensure zero cyber risks and that "a significant number of hacks in the world involve exploiting human weaknesses."

"In a world of NFTs, crypto, AI, the metaverse, etc., we need to be almost paranoid about all digital interactions. Also, to always remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is", he adds.