![\"book-a-demo-loginradius\"](\"/8fce571f703a5970dbb1359a2fe0e51a/book-a-demo-loginradius.webp\")
Until the modifications are introduced to production, smart companies take advantage of API testing and so do you. In both staging and production environments, API's must be checked to ensure that the software framework meets the specifications.
\nLet's discuss how, through how your team approaches your research plan, your team can get the benefits of API testing.
\nWhat is API Testing?\nApplication Programming Interface is often called as API. An API is a set of methods and procedures that developers \"open up\" to other programmers to have their applications communicate and interact with other applications. Once an API is built, it is necessary to test the interface to provide truly secure, reliable and scalable connections between platforms.
\nAPI testing helps identify early issues and is different from UI testing. An API receives requests and sends back responses through internet protocols including, HTTP and SMTP. API tests investigate applications that have varying API functionalities and vary the API call's parameters in different ways that verify functionality and expose failures.
\nAPI testing can be done on the below aspects:
\nFunctional Testing checks API's functionality, Takes payload in the form of JSON or XML and provides the response code and response body.\nLoad Testing checks the performance under the specific load and determines how much traffic the API can handle before being overloaded.\nSecurity Testing checks vulnerabilities like authentication and sensitive data is encrypted over HTTP and includes penetration testing validating authentication.
\nAdvantages of API testing during Software development
\n1. Time efficiency
\nAPI Testing doesn't require GUI to be ready and it can be performed way early in the development cycle. The Automated API tests provide much quicker test results and significantly accelerate development workflows; thus, it helps you speed up the feedback loop and catch issues faster.
\nIn addition to that, API tests are significantly less time-consuming when compared to UI Tests. UI Tests spend much time rendering and loading the web pages and interface elements, whereas can execute API tests in seconds. Let's take an example where a user needs to register and login from UI takes at least 3 to 5 minutes, whereas API testing takes less than 30 seconds.
\n2. Reduced costs
\nIt is very closely connected with time efficiency.
\nThe cost efficiency benefit is closely connected with the previous one. Automated API tests' increased execution speed leads to more effective/efficient resource consumption and lower overall testing costs.
\nAPI tests can be executed as early as the business logic is defined and before any GUI testing. So it will help you to identify the issue at the early stage. Early identification means the less expensive it is to fix it and Reduces the cost of Application changes. API testing enables the QA team to detect and resolve issues before they become a production problem, keeping project costs at bay.
\n3. Technology Independent
\nAPI tests are Language Independent, Since the data is interchanged using JSON or XML and compromised HTTP requests and HTTP responses. So the QA team is free to choose the language of their choice that supports these technologies((JavaScript, Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, etc.).
\n4. Greater tests stability
\nWhile GUI's are dynamic and may change to accommodate new requests from stakeholders and users, API interfaces are very much stable. APIs typically come with detailed documentation, and any changes are reflected there so that QA engineers can adjust their test suites timely. And due to this inherent stability, API tests are also much easier to maintain.
\n5. Improved test coverage
\nUnlike unit tests, automated API tests are generally broader in scope and detail. While unit tests are focused on the limited functionality of components within a single application, problems often arise at the intersection where one layer's scope ends and the other begins.
\nYou won't find these issues with unit tests, but API-level tests are specifically designed to verify that all system components function as intended. API testing helps uncover potential defects in the interfaces, servers, and databases, improving the overall software quality and contributing to better user experiences.
\nEfficiency gains associated with an API testing tool can include:
\nConclusion:\nAPI testing is recognized as a better fit for Continuous Testing in Agile methodologies. Not adequately tested APIs may cause issues at the API application and the calling application. It is a necessary test in software engineering.
\n","frontmatter":{"date":"February 12, 2021","updated_date":null,"description":"Communication between software components is handled by an API (Application Programming Interface). Discover the advantages of automated API testing.","title":"What is API Testing? - Discover the Benefits","tags":["Automation","API Testing","Agile","Benefits"],"pinned":null,"coverImage":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"aspectRatio":1.680672268907563,"src":"/static/80a2124798188a2366a8093c6f4d4afc/71802/api-testing.webp","srcSet":"/static/80a2124798188a2366a8093c6f4d4afc/61e93/api-testing.webp 200w,\n/static/80a2124798188a2366a8093c6f4d4afc/1f5c5/api-testing.webp 400w,\n/static/80a2124798188a2366a8093c6f4d4afc/71802/api-testing.webp 770w","sizes":"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px"}}},"author":{"id":"Surendranath Reddy Birudala","github":"reddysuren","avatar":null}}}},{"node":{"excerpt":"Consumer experience and value proposition are getting all the attention in today’s highly dynamic and interactive business environment. No…","fields":{"slug":"/growth/consumer-management-to-consumer-engagement/"},"html":"Consumer experience and value proposition are getting all the attention in today’s highly dynamic and interactive business environment. No wonder consumer engagement strategies are producing exceptional results in the form of brand and business augmentation.
\nWhile the word ‘engagement’ in business relationships is not new, most customer-facing groups still focus on the conventional management approach rather than consumer engagement. And that has been creating a loophole in the outcomes about how we work and how we live.
\nWe all must agree that it feels great to have technology in our personal lives. We spend time on our favorite apps or devices that we can’t live without. Technology helps us connect to our family and friends. Also, various tools help us get things done.
\nSo, why should our work be any different?
\nWe have seen a drastic change in organizations' sales cycles in the past couple of years. These changes mostly reflect how modern consumer success tools are shaping up.
\nNo wonder businesses focus on what people want to accomplish and how they can engage more consumers.
\nHistorically, organizations were more focused on managing and facilitating consumers' to be on top of everything. However, in the past couple of years, the paradigm has shifted from working as the facilitator to acting as a consultant and driving consumer engagement.
\nA good CSM follows a couple of engagement methods to manage their consumers and make the communication more effective.
\nConsumers always prefer to be at the top of the negotiation cycle. They like to make purchases on their own terms, according to their timelines and their preferred methods.
\nTherefore, facilitating seamless consumer service is like half the battle won. You can win the other half via tracking and understanding the consumer journey.
\nAssume a person buys some jewelry from a nearby store, and out of the blue, the store gives him a discount. The takeaway?
\nWell, the consumer may forget about the discount but will always remember the owner’s good service gestures.
\nSimilarly, create personalized content for your consumers. For example, even a short welcome message can make the shopping experience more pleasant.
\nNow, it is no news that acquiring new consumers always costs more than retaining existing ones. So, how do you retain them? How to ensure that they are your loyal consumers and will advocate about your product or service?
\nMost companies like sports brands, kids-related products, and retail stores leverage a well-thought-out loyalty program as a way to make consumers their advocates.
\nA recent study states that 23% of businesses use different reward campaigns to re-engage their existing consumers. Most of such programs are a part of personalized promotions (such as product discounts etc.)
\nDuring and post-pandemic, social media played the biggest role in communication and marketing. An effective consumer engagement and communication via social media can help in marketing the brand and networking.
\nIt also helps strengthen consumers' relations and promote your branding and marketing offers.
\nThere are infinite ways to encourage consumer engagement and create value for your business.
\nStrategies that bring out the 'wow' factor are always the best ones. Be it via social media, advocacy, or loyalty programs.
\nI hope these consumer engagement strategies will induce you to get into action. Keep in touch for more strategies and possible outcomes. Keep reading :)
\n
A crucial component of any SaaS organization is ensuring that their consumers can successfully leverage the tools and systems they provide. A vital part of this is an efficient Consumer Support system.
\nAt LoginRadius, we have spent years refining our support processes and procedures. We have learned a lot about balancing efficiency, consumer success, and consumer satisfaction to unlock the true potential of our platform for our consumers.
\nBefore diving into the various systems and services that make up a Consumer Support system, it is essential to understand a few things.
\nWhat does support mean for your organization?
\nSupport is different for every organization. Make sure you have spent time with internal stakeholders to understand what success means to your organization and then drive your consumer support based on the understanding.
\nWho do you support?
\nUnderstanding the types of consumers that will engage with your support team allows you to tailor your systems, teams, and processes to these individuals. Try setting up consumer profiles for all key stakeholders who may interact with your Consumer Support team and refine them over time.
\nOnce you have defined the above two questions for your organization, it is much easier to flesh out how you will structure your Consumer Support System and start defining your Support Structure.
\nAn efficient Consumer Support team is more than just the front line support personnel interacting with your consumers.
\nSupporting consumers must be an organization-wide initiative. All teams bring unique systems, skill sets, and perspectives to your Consumer Support processes. This makes it essential to involve other teams early and consistently when planning how you will structure your support processes.
\nUnderstanding where other teams may fit into your support structure allows you to tailor your workflows and engagement based on a mutual understanding of Consumer Success and Support.
\nAt LoginRadius, we have always maintained a \"Consumer First\" approach and treat consumers as our priority.
\nVarious teams support our direct Consumer Support team through direct and indirect support:
\nThese teams offer direct assistance to our Support Engineers by bringing to bear their extensive product knowledge when troubleshooting complex consumer questions.
\nWhether this means working with the team to develop architectural or technical solutions, troubleshooting bugs, or recommending systems or workflows that can solve consumer issues, they bring a wealth of technical knowledge and skills to bear.
\nThese teams also play an active role in the triage process when priority issues are logged; frequently, they have access and insight into these issues, making a meaningful difference when classifying problems and escalating priority or production issues.
\nAn under-appreciated team in the context of Consumer Support, “content” plays a vital role in assisting consumers.
\nBy generating relevant content, whether directly related to your platform or related to supporting technologies or systems, they provide extensions to your direct knowledge base or documentation, which can help mitigate or facilitate understanding.
\nSupport teams engaging closely with these teams can help drive relevant content that provides value to consumers and indirectly influences support by proactively providing relevant content to your consumers.
\nConsumer support is often a very transactional process with minimal opportunities to build a relationship with your consumers. It is essential to include teams that specialize in creating these relationships directly as part of your support processes.
\nThis means providing active feedback and reports on the Consumer Support interactions so that these relationship-focused teams can ensure that consumers are satisfied with the received support and all deficiencies are quickly resolved.
\nOver time, this allows for a feedback loop in which consumers are comfortable in proactively providing feedback as they know that their experience will improve by doing so.
\nInvolving other teams is essential, but equally important is having the right people on your team. Consumer Support is not for everyone. Having the right individual interacting with your consumers is important to ensure efficient support that drives product usage and consumer satisfaction.
\nThese individuals may vary from organization to organization, based on their definition of support and the types of consumers they support. Still, there are a few unifying factors that make a huge difference:
\nWith the above components and understanding of both who you are supporting and what support means for your organization, you can build a support team that will enable your consumers.
\nThis is often an organic process that may evolve as you engage with external and internal stakeholders. Measuring this via targetted metrics allows you to refine and revamp these processes based on informed decisions.
\nWhen defining how to measure your support performance, there are three things to keep in mind:
\nSetting up key metrics allows you to strive for something; these may vary from industry to industry or organization to organization and should but tailored to your company and essential for your consumers.
\nAt LoginRadius, we focus on accuracy, efficiency, and expeditiousness, with some of our key metrics being:
\nUnderstanding how your competitors measure support and the metrics they provide can help your organization understand where you sit with your metrics. While this should drive your metrics, it should also impact the metrics you track.
\nThere may be various regulatory requirements that come into play when defining your metrics and contractual metrics, such as Service-Level agreements(SLA) or other components of contracts that mandate specific metrics within your organization. Use these to define and track important metrics for your industry or organization.
\nDelivering support is essential, and SaaS support usually involves more than one of the following channels:
\nVarious options exist to support this channel. These range in scale from a simple support email address to robust support ticketing systems .
\nThese often form one of the initial touchpoints for all issues and allow for consumers communication and longer-term investigations.
\nAt LoginRadius, we leverage Zendesk as our email and ticketing solutions, but various services exist offering a range of scale to support all organization sizes:
\nA live chat system is often the front line to your support engagement and can be a handy tool for consumers to get quick, efficient support.
\nThese are often supplemented with automation levels to streamline the initial communication via service frameworks and bots.
\nLike Email ticketing systems, there are many options in this industry that can enable your teams, both small and large.
\nWe leverage intercom to support our Live Chat for Customer at LoginRadius, but some other options are:
\nPhone support usually comes in two formats, a scheduled call or direct call lines. These allow for rapid expedition of requests and reassure consumers that they have active engagement and acknowledgment from your team. Most of the significant support services also support direct call support channels.
\nAt LoginRadius, we leverage Dialpad both for scheduled support as well as priority phone channels.
\nCommunity support allows product evangelists outside of your organization to support your other direct channels.
\nBy providing a forum or location where consumers can share knowledge or experiences, you can mitigate the amount of direct support your organization needs to facilitate.
\nDepending on your organization, these vary. With LoginRadius, we encourage our consumers to engage with each other both via Github and Stackoverflow.
\nStill, direct forums like the following are also suitable.
\nProviding detailed knowledgebases and documentation, which includes intuitive methods to find information that a consumer requires, is often more potent than all of your other support channels combined in reducing the total volume of support engagements. There are various services to support this, some directly integrated into Support service desks.
\nAt LoginRadius, we chose to develop our own platform to service our documentation. This allows us to iterate continuously and improves our support documents and knowledge base.
\nEvery support engagement is reviewed and analyzed. This analysis is fed back to our content team to improve or enhance our documentation to give the tools to find the information they need directly quickly.
\nNow that you have selected the best tools to enable your team and your consumers, it is time to define your processes.
\nHaving a well-defined set of processes and playbooks for your support team allows you to quickly onboard new team members, scale support engagement independent of team size, and easily understand and refine bottlenecks and action feedback.
\nAt LoginRadius, we spend a significant amount of time early in our support team development to document and detail as many processes and procedures as possible.
\nThese form the backbone of our support engagement and enable teams to provide the best, most efficient support possible by having clear channels of communication and touchpoints to cover the majority of consumer issues.
\nBeyond general processes to cover the various support communication channels you have in place(Email, Phone, Live Chat Etc), it is equally important to engineer your process with failure in mind.
\nHave defined process for situations like:
\nTriaging and escalations:** **This is one of the most critical processes defined at LoginRadius. It covers how to classify support priorities and specific granular steps to escalate issues to any tier or team within the organization.
\nHaving clear communication lines is crucial when seconds of impact on a given problem can have an enormous financial or reputational impact on consumers.
\nConsumer objections or unhappiness:** **Not every support interaction goes as planned. While having the right team, channels, and processes goes a long way in mitigating this, and there will be times when a consumer may not be satisfied with the support they receive.
\nWhen these situations occur, both the Consumer Support and Relationship teams should try to figure out what went wrong and integrate future preventative measures.
\nIt can be extremely fulfilling to create a consumer support team and see it evolve over time as you interact with consumers and refine your systems and processes.
\nThey can help to define your organization and drive your organization's reputation in your industry.
\nHopefully, the above insights into the LoginRadius support team and some of the things that have helped us to support our consumers enable you to drive efficiencies within your organization.
\n
Around the world, most of the workforce started to work from home to cope with the pandemic. Even post COVID-19, managers are strategizing the best remote working tips to lead their teams at ease.
\nIt is also equally important to glean remote-work policies even if they do not continue the work-from-home model. After all, it will make life easier for future references.
\nA major challenge is to keep employees disciplined and help them maintain the consistency of their performance. It has been observed that most of the active and high-performing employees have had cases of low morale and less engagement in the remote model.
\nOther challenges that slow the outcomes and impact remote working include less face-to-face supervision, social isolation, household chores, and more.
\nHere are some remote working tips that can ease the pressure and challenges of the work-from-home model for organizations and their management.
\nThey worked for us at LoginRadius. Pretty sure they will work for you too!
\nWhen countries were under lockdown, most organizations started remote working drills. At LoginRadius, we floated several surveys among the team and got their inputs on them.
\nIt is important for an organization always to have a proactive approach and predictable thinking of all future aspects, whether positive or negative. We should always prepare ourselves for challenges and should have a positive and learning attitude.
\nWhen the news of the pandemic started flooding and circulating across the world, we started taking action accordingly.
\nWe prepared and rolled out new policies and processes. We were open to suggestions from our team members and discussed their feasibility by conducting various managerial meetings.
\nThis may sound overkill, but it is the best way to keep in touch with your employees and maintain face-to-face supervision.
\nA couple of pre-shift and post-shift meetings daily can motivate and encourage your team. This activity can help the employees to maintain their performance.
\nWhen it comes to the tasks, responsibilities, or productions, good communication can make the task feasible in remote working. Daily check-ins are a mandatory step of starting a day.
\nFrequent communication with the team helps the workforce to complete all the desired tasks. But remember! over communication can lead to a greater overhead.
\nThere are some communication and management tools available that make communication easy around the globe.
\nApplications like Google-Meeting, Hangouts, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc., can help managers keep track of their respective teams and handle them remotely.
\nAs previously discussed, due to the absence of training on the work-from-home model, even high-performing employees can be defocused on their goals and responsibilities.
\nSetting the expectation with goals and requesting feedback is an important step to ensure alignment.
\nAt LoginRadius, we are maintaining a high valued employee caring culture. We planned events and activities virtually and also added a few more trainers and life coaches for our employee’s well-being. You can also conduct virtual meetings, events, and get-togethers.
\nFacing issues while working is normal for every employee, and coaching in every step is ideal for a manager. Being too bossy can demotivate your employees and lead them to become more casual.
\nBeing a mentor and coaching your team is one of the best remote working tips to make your employees more efficient.
\nApart from coaching, some other activities like addressing employee issues, appreciating them for every single achievement, engaging them in daily fun activities, keeping them at the front when it comes to any achievement, etc. goes a long way.
\nIt is a good thing if the employees are sharing their issues with the managers and looking for a solution. It portrays that the employees have enough faith and trust in their managers when it comes to solving the issues.
\nListening to their issues and empathizing with their struggles can help them to calm and sort out the issues. Also, try to become a good friend of them if you can. It more often seems that people make good friends at their workplace as well, so why not you?
\nEveryone has a different home environment. Some of them may have spouses, children, or other family members, some may not.
\nSome may have a vacant room for work purposes, while some attend meetings and do their work from the bedroom, dining, or balconies.
\nIt is also possible some are working from café instead of home, and some are facing internet or electricity issues.
\nUnderstanding their problems and not judging and comparing their situation with other team members is an important step. That can make your remote working model easy and interesting for employees.
\nKeep your employees engaged in remote social interactions and activities daily. Having a healthy chat with personal goals and daily activities makes employees feel good.
\nAlso having some daily fun activities like singing, playing guitar, etc., keeps employees energetic and enthusiastic.
\nCarving out some time from scheduled meetings can be helpful. Also performing some remote social activities or maintaining a dress code for several occasions can make the employees feel like the office in the home.
\nManpower comes with two main factors. One is the proper training and the second is efficient and enough resources.
\nThere is no doubt that every organization gives proper and suitable training to its new joiners as well as to the working employees if required.
\nBut when it comes to resources, none of the employees bring any resources from their homes. They all are provided to them in the work area.
\nSo when the pandemic hit globally and most of the organization started remote work, the main problem that arrived at first was resources.
\nIt is not necessary that all of your employees possess a laptop or PC and internet connection at their home. Also, it is not fair if they pay the utility bills from their pocket.
\nThe management should keep these things in mind for their remote working model to be successful. The organization should be prepared with a list of all needed resources and reimbursement that must be paid to its employees.
\nYou should prepare a supply chain management for the tools, hardware, and systems. As an IT company, you can’t work without computers; also be prepared for the repair and maintenance of hardware from time to time.
\nYou can schedule IT people to visit the office once a week at least with all the safety measures to check the submitted hardware and repair them. Also, have a backup system ready to provide the employees so that work may not suffer and people can move ahead with their tasks smoothly.
\nEducating employees about the purpose of remote working can help them understand the importance of maintaining a healthy work-from-home culture.
\nEach of the tips mentioned above and advice requires patience, attention, flexibility, and consistency. Working out on these tips can lead to better results and help the management handle the remote teams more easily and comfortably.
\n
Cloud security consists of controls, processes, technologies, and policies combined to protect the cloud-based systems, infrastructure, and data. Cloud Security is called a subdomain of computer security and, more predominantly, information security.
\nAll strategies are implemented to protect data, adhere to regulatory compliances, and protect consumers' privacy. The aim is to protect businesses from financial, legal, and reputational hassles of data loss and data breaches.
\nIn this article, we'll discuss a few strategies needed to secure your cloud operations from cyber threats.
\nCloud security is one of the best practices by IT experts designed to prevent unauthorized access to applications and keep data secure in the cloud. It deals with the technology and procedures that secure your cloud operations against internal and external cybersecurity threats.
\nAccording to Grand View Research, the global cybersecurity market size was valued at US$156.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to increase at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 10.0% from 2020 through 2027.
\nOne of the most important steps for successful cloud operations is to keep your cloud environment safe and secure. Generally, businesses are eager to adopt cloud solutions, but the primary factor that keeps enterprises on their toes is their security issues.
\nEvery business has a huge amount of sensitive data on the cloud. We have listed a few strategies on how you can improve and secure your cloud operations using the best policies and tools:
\nReal-time monitoring permits IT admins to monitor any suspicious threats that may arise on the site in real-time. According to IBM, the global average total cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.45M.
\nConsidering the magnitude of these losses, you must secure your network from cyber-attacks using real-time monitoring in the cloud. It gives you total visibility into your network systems and helps you understand your security better.
\nUsing a traditional username and a password is not sufficient for protecting consumer accounts from hackers. One of the main ways hackers get access to your online business data and applications is through the stolen credentials.
\nThe most effective security method to keep the hackers at bay and prevent them from accessing your cloud application is through MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication). Hackers can hardly move past the second layer of security. This can prevent 99.9% of account compromise attacks and avoid a data breach.
\nData that is not stored in the private server or unprotected data can be prone to large-scale data breaches and may lead to financial losses, reputation damage, and expose sensitive client information.
\nYou need to set proper levels of authorization by using an IAM (identity and access management). Assigning access control not only prevents an employee from accidentally editing information that they are not authorized to access, but also protects the businesses from hackers.
\nYou could lose data because of the cloud provider's mistake. Therefore, having a cloud-to-cloud backup solution always helps. Backup solutions are a must for organizations that depend on software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications such as Box, Microsoft Office 365, and Zendesk.
\nOrganizations using SaaS applications as well as a cloud-to-cloud backup are on the rise. This technology offers advanced data protection above the basics provided by SaaS applications.
\nAccording to a survey conducted by Cyberark, \"88% of IT workers would take sensitive data with them or abscond with company passwords if they were fired\". In another survey, it was found that \"50% of ex-employees can still access corporate apps.\"
\nMake sure you deprovision your employees when they leave the company. Make sure that they can no longer access your systems, data, cloud storage, intellectual properties, and consumer information.
\nYou need to have a systematic off-boarding process and make sure all the departing employee's access rights are revoked immediately.
\nVerizon's 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report shows that 32% of the data breaches in 2018 involved phishing activities. Further, \"phishing was present in 78% of Cyber-Espionage incidents and the installation and use of backdoors.\"
\nHackers can gain access to securing information by stealing the employee's login credentials or by using social engineering techniques like fake websites, phishing, and duplicate social media accounts.
\nOffering anti-phishing training can prevent employees from falling victim to these scams without compromising your company's sensitive data.
\nSecurity breaches are not caused by weak cloud data security; instead, they are caused by human errors.
\nAccidental deletions, stolen login credentials, dissatisfied employees, unsecured Wi-Fi connections, and employee mishaps are some of the reasons that your cloud data might be at risk.
\nMass adoption of cloud technology with ever-increasing sophistication and volume can pave the way for cyber threats that drive the need to implement cybersecurity.
\n![\"Future-proof-your-security\"](\"/fa88a9e70426c2aaf7daf7d4265e1351/Future-proof-your-security.webp\")
Here a few tips about how you can improvise on the security of data on the cloud –
\nOrganizations migrate their sensitive data and applications to the cloud to protect highly sensitive business data from hackers.
\nHere are a few more reasons that elaborate on the fundamentals of cloud security:
\nAccess control in cloud security enables an organization to monitor and regulate access or permissions of the company's data. It is done by formulating policies that the organization chooses.
\nSimilarly, access control in cloud security helps organizations gain macro-level visibility into their user behavior and data. Cloud management and configuration tools offer end users strong role-based access, flexibility, and autonomy.
\nData spillage and data breaches are inevitable; you can protect the data through techniques using encryption.
\nYou can use multiple keys to minimize the impact of compromised keys. These keys should regularly rotate with a strong access and control policy.
\nYou can use automation to minimize human errors and misconfiguration. According to Gartner's research, \"Through 2025, 99% of cloud security failures will be the customer's fault\".
\nUsing automation with audited and pretested configurations makes sure that the infrastructure is configured and deployed the right way.
\nSeveral IT organizations use cloud automation tools that run along with the virtualized environment. It is used to streamline repetitive tasks like defining everyday configuration items, provisioning virtual resources, and establishing infrastructure as code.
\nVulnerability management tools are security applications that scan the organization's networks to identify threats or weaknesses that intruders can exploit. These tools are designed for managing attacks on the network.
\nWhen a scan identifies a threat on the network, this software suggests remedies, action, thereby minimizing the prospect of network attack.
\nCompared with conventional firewalls, anti-spy software or antivirus, intrusion detection systems, vulnerability management tools search for potential threats and fix them to mitigate future attacks.
\nAccording to McAfee's Cloud Adoption and Risk Report 2019, \"among all the files hosted on the cloud, 21% have sensitive data included in them\". You can implement enhancements throughout the entire operations life cycle.
\nIn the beginning, only initial implementation takes place. When the apps are introduced to the public, the team should make continual enhancements throughout the journey to safeguard against threats.
\nMFA (Multi-factor Authentication) has rapidly gained adoption to increase the security and authentication for enterprise web and mobile applications.
\nAs per recent statistics, 63% of data breaches are connected with reused or weak passwords due to ineffective strategies used by several organizations.
\nDeploying MFA (Multi-factor Authentication) is considered the cheapest and the most effective security control to protect your business from hackers trying to access your cloud applications.
\nBy protecting your cloud users with multi-factor authentication, only authorized personnel will be given permission to access cloud apps and your sensitive business data.
\n![\"how-to-secure-cloud-operations\"](\"/4694b3cda5c3fa748f3a2e3280d58f75/how-to-secure-cloud-operations.webp\")
If you intend to build a Cloud IAM solution either in-house or through a third-party service on your servers, then you should be aware of its limitations too. There is a time-consuming factor in hardware, software, security, and privacy.
\nIn comparison, LoginRadius takes care of upgrades, maintenance, data management, infrastructure management, compliance, security, and privacy.
\nWith the LoginRadius cloud infrastructure, you can automatically scale to accommodate the changing data storage requirements, peak loads, consumer authentication, account creation, the addition of new applications, and more.
\nThere is no doubt that cloud computing is the future. And it would be best if you secure your cloud operations now!
\nYou need to think more carefully regarding the cloud security controls to ensure total security. Using the best industry practices and managing your cloud services will help you secure your cloud operations, thereby protecting sensitive data.
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In reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, as offices closed, few of us knew that we would be working from home for months or forever, Many of us set to continue the trend of working from home for the foreseeable future. With remote working set to become the “new normal” for many, it's important to make sure our systems are safe and secure.
\nIn today's digital world, consumers are using more and more web and mobile apps to access various services. These apps require the consumer to create accounts with usernames and passwords. This poses the threats for password breaches due to lack of strong passwords, common passwords, or re-used passwords for multiple sites.
\nBusinesses are looking for ways to protect their digital assets while validating their consumer's identities and at the same time providing a smooth user experience. Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is the simplest and the most effective tool to provide another layer on top of the login credentials. After the consumer enters their login credentials, whether via email, phone number, username, or social profile, the consumer verifies the system with some other independent factor. Hence, it restricts any malicious attempt to access the system or service even if someone gets access to the consumer's password.
\nMulti-factor or Two-factor Authentication verifies the consumer's identity using one of the following factors:
\nThere are several MFA authentication methods available leveraging the above authentication factors to protect the consumer account. Businesses can use one or all of the following MFA authentication methods as per their business requirements.
\nThe PIN Authentication feature allows the consumer to set a PIN in addition to the password during registration. After the consumer enters their login credentials, the consumer will be asked to enter the PIN set at the time of registration. This is generally used in devices with physical interfaces like smartphones or PIN pad on the doors. Check our LoginRadius PIN Authentication method to know more.
\nPros: It is easy for consumers to remember and enter the four-digit PIN into the application, eliminating the need to have a device to complete the MFA.
\nCons: Brute forcing the PIN is easier than a password as the PIN is generally a combination of 4 digit numbers.
\nThe consumers are asked to answer some security questions at the time of registration. The security questions should be such that the answers are easy to remember for the consumers, hard to guess for someone else, and be consistent over time. The same security question(s) can be asked as a second factor of authentication to verify the consumer identity. This is used in web applications as you can type security answers quickly on the computer. LoginRadius allows its customers to configure security questions for authentication. Please see the LoginRadius Security Question Overview document for more details.
\nPros: You can easily set up the security questions as most of the services allow you to select the questions from a series of predefined questions. It does not require any additional hardware device.
\nCons: Other people can find out the answers from your social profiles or use social engineering, like phishing emails or phone calls. If they know you, they can also guess the answers to the security questions, e.g., your favorite color, etc. You need to memorize responses for the security questions if you have set the fictitious responses so that nobody can guess or find out.
\nAfter the consumers enter their login credentials, they receive an instant text message with a unique authentication code. The consumers are required to enter the code into the application to get access to their accounts. Visit LoginRadius SMS authentication to know more.
\nPros: MFA via SMS code is the most popular method due to its low cost and easy setup. It is also fast as the text arrives almost instantly.
\nCons: The code is sent over the telecom network, hence, poses the risk of SMS messages being intercepted or redirected. In this case, the consumer will still get the code and report it to the business if it is not he who tried to login into the application. If you have misplaced or don't have the device nearby, Or the device has run out of battery, you can't log in to the application. Some disreputable services can use your phone number for marketing and sales purposes.
\nConsumers receive the code over a phone call instead of receiving the text message.
\nPros: You can receive the call on your cell phones as well as on your landline phones.
\nCons: It requires phone network connectivity to receive the call.
\nLike SMS Authentication, once the consumer enters their login credentials, they receive a unique code in the email. Enter the code to complete the authentication process.
\nPros: You can access the code on any device, hence, removing the need to have a mobile phone nearby.
\nCons: You should avoid logging into your email account on public computers or while you're connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot.
\nInstead of sending a code, a push notification is sent directly to a secure application on the user's device, e.g., a mobile phone asking them to confirm an authentication attempt is made from another device. The consumer can approve or deny access by pressing a button on the device.
\nPros: It provides a better user experience as the consumer does not need to type the code.
\nCons: The push notifications can be compromised if the device is lost, stolen, or someone gets access to the device. Your phone should have access to the internet to complete the push notification. If you are logging from multiple devices or multiple times, you will get many notifications. Hence, you might ignore the authentication information like IP address, location, etc. In the push and approve it without thinking, can grant access to the malicious person.
\nThis requires the consumer to install an authenticator app, e.g., Google Authenticator, to their mobile devices. During registration, the consumers will scan a QR code from the website with the app. The app will auto-generate a Time-Based One Time Password (TOTP) that the consumer will have to enter after they've provided their login credentials. LoginRadius supports MFA via an authenticator app, e.g., Google authenticator.
\nPros: It gives an advantage over SMS Authentication as the code is not sent over the telecom network, but the device is required to be connected to the internet. You can scan the QR code by multiple devices to avoid getting locked out.
\nCons: The authenticator app generates the code with a very short validity, which results in entering invalid codes into your service. Some malware can steal MFA code directly from the authenticator app.
\nU2F is an open authentication standard that leverages encrypted security keys to verify the identity. The consumer needs to plug in a physical security device carrying encrypted security keys into a USB port after submitting their login credentials.
\nPros: This is one of the most secure MFA authentication methods as the device works with the registered site only and can't be digitally intercepted or redirected. Also, the devices don't store any personal information. The consumers can't be authenticated without the physical device.
\nCons: U2F keys require a USB port to plug in the device, making this an untenable solution for mobile devices or devices without USB ports. There is also a cost involved in purchasing these physical devices. Employees mostly use this within an enterprise as they are required to carry the physical device for login.
\nNote: The consumers are mostly provided a set of backup codes to complete the second factor in the event of the device being lost, stolen, or not being accessible. It is recommended to keep these backup codes securely.
\nThe consumer verifies the device's identity using Biometric factors like a Fingerprint, Eye scan, Facial recognition, or Voice recognition on the device. This is mostly used in mobile applications for authenticating the consumers on smartphones with biometric verification capability.
\nLoginRadius supports various forms of biometric authentication e.g. TouchID. You can leverage Any third-party biometric services to provide secondary forms of authentication to consumers.
\nPros: It is complicated to hack biometrics.
\nCons: You can only login into the devices with biometric verification capabilities. The registered services can misuse your biometrics. Once your biometrics are hacked, you can not use them for any applications in the future.
\nWhen the consumer tries to log in to a device, the device location is derived from its IP address or GPS. If the device's location is listed as allowable in the system, access to the system is granted. LoginRadius supports triggering actions based on the stored city, browser, or device. Please see the LoginRadius Risk Based Authentication document for more information.
\nPros: This provides the best user experience as it does not require additional devices or steps to complete MFA.
\nCons: You can only access the device in specific locations or devices.
\nYou can leverage any Multi-factor Authentication method to improve security over the traditional username and password authentication. But none of the MFA methods is 100% foolproof and should not be used as a single factor of account protection. Also, MFA causes the login process longer for the consumer. Hence, the choice of any or combination of MFA methods depends on your business requirements around security and user experience. Here are some recommendations:
\nIdentity is evolving, and developers are at the forefront of this transformation. Every day brings a new learning—adapting to new standards and refining approaches to building secure, seamless experiences.
\nWe’re here to support developers on that journey. We know how important simplicity, efficiency, and well-structured documentation are when working with identity and access management solutions. That’s why we’ve redesigned the LoginRadius website—to be faster, more intuitive, and developer-first in every way.
\nThe goal? Having them spend less time searching and more time building.
\nLoginRadius’ vision is to give developers a product that simplifies identity management so they can focus on building, deploying, and scaling their applications. To enhance this experience, we’ve spent the last few months redesigning our interface— making navigation more intuitive and reassuring that essential resources are easily accessible.
\nHere’s a closer look at what’s new and why it’s important:
\n![\"This](\"/f46881583c7518a93bb24e94c32320de/a-developer-friendly-dark-theme.webp\")
Developers spend long hours working in dark-themed IDEs and terminals, so we’ve designed the LoginRadius experience to be developer-friendly and align with that preference.
\nThe new dark mode reduces eye strain, enhances readability, and provides a seamless transition between a coding environment and our platform. Our new design features a clean, modern aesthetic with a consistent color scheme and Barlow typography, ensuring better readability. High-quality graphics and icons are thoughtfully placed to enhance the content without adding visual clutter.
\nSo, whether you’re navigating our API docs or configuring authentication into your system, our improved interface will make those extended development hours more comfortable and efficient.
\n![\"This](\"/e5358b82be414940f3fb146013845933/capabilities.webp\")
We’ve restructured our website to provide a straightforward breakdown of our customer identity and access management platform capabilities, helping you quickly find what you need:
\nThis structured layout ensures you can quickly understand each capability and how it integrates into your identity ecosystem.
\n![\"This](\"/a8c155c2b6faf3d5f4b4de4e2b14d763/developers-menu.webp\")
We’ve been analyzing developer workflows to identify how you access key resources. That’s why we redesigned our navigation with one goal in mind: to reduce clicks and make essential resources readily available.
\nThe new LoginRadius structure puts APIs, SDKs, and integration guides right at the menu bar under the Developers dropdown so you can get started faster. Our Products, Solutions, and Customer Services are also clearly categorized, helping development teams quickly find the right tools and make informed decisions.
\n![\"This](\"/b2f9a964a2da0ea83e2f8596b833bba7/we-support-your-tech-stack.webp\")
Developers now have a clear view of the tech stack available with LoginRadius, designed to support diverse business needs.
\nOur platform offers pre-built SDKs for Node.js, Python, Java, and more, making CIAM integration seamless across popular programming languages and frameworks.
\nCheck out our revamped LoginRadius website and see how the improved experience makes it easier to build, scale, and secure your applications.
\nDo not forget to explore the improved navigation and API documentation, and get started with our free trial today. We’re excited to see what you’ll build with LoginRadius!
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