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10/06/2026 12:11 am
TL;DR: Modern authentication programs need policy control, lifecycle integration, and access visibility to avoid leaving gaps in onboarding, offboarding, and privileged access, according to Zluri’s roundup. MFA still reduces password-only risk, but password protection is necessary, and identity governance is what keeps MFA from becoming a narrow front-door control.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Zluri: Security & Compliance Top 11 Multi-Factor Authentication Software In 2026
By the numbers:
- 72% of organisations have experienced or suspect they have experienced a breach of non-human identities, 46% confirmed and 26% suspected.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams use MFA without treating it as the whole identity strategy?
A: Use MFA as a verification layer, not as a substitute for lifecycle governance.
Q: Why do MFA deployments still leave organisations exposed to identity risk?
A: Because MFA only proves an identity at sign-in, it does not determine whether the identity should retain access afterward.
Q: What do organisations get wrong about MFA for service accounts and automation?
A: They often apply human login assumptions to identities that do not behave like people.
Practitioner guidance
- Classify MFA as one layer in access governance Map MFA decisions to joiner-mover-leaver events, role changes, and privileged access paths so authentication policy reflects current identity state, not just login risk.
- Prefer phishing-resistant factors for high-risk access Reserve weaker factor types like SMS or email for low-risk use cases, and use stronger methods for admin access, remote access, and sensitive applications.
- Connect MFA to HR-driven offboarding Ensure leaver events trigger access removal, factor revocation, and review of connected applications so MFA does not protect accounts that should already be closed.
What's in the full article
Zluri's full article covers the product-by-product comparison and implementation detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Feature-level differences between the listed MFA tools, including supported factor types and policy options
- Customer rating snapshots and pros-versus-cons detail for each product in the shortlist
- Vendor-specific integration notes for SSO, HR systems, and access control workflows
- The article's own comparisons that can help teams narrow a shortlist before proof of concept
👉 Read Zluri's 2026 MFA software roundup for identity and access teams →
MFA software in 2026: are your access controls enough?
Explore further
10/06/2026 9:28 pm
MFA is not an identity programme, it is a control surface. Zluri’s article is useful because it shows how often MFA gets discussed as a standalone security answer when the real issue is identity governance. The control only reduces risk if it sits inside a system that also knows who should have access, when access should expire, and what happens when the identity changes. Practitioners should treat MFA as one checkpoint in a broader access governance chain, not as the programme itself.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 1.5 out of 10 organisations are highly confident in their ability to secure NHIs, compared to nearly 1 in 4 for securing human identities, according to The State of Non-Human Identity Security.
- Lack of credential rotation is cited as the top cause of NHI-related attacks by 45% of organisations, followed by inadequate monitoring and logging at 37% and over-privileged accounts at 37%.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Who is accountable when MFA is bypassed through weak access governance?
A: Accountability usually sits with the identity, security, and application owners together, because MFA policy, access provisioning, and deprovisioning are shared controls. If access remains active after a role change or departure, the governance breakdown is broader than authentication. Teams should define ownership for factor policy, entitlement review, and offboarding in the same control model.
👉 Read our full editorial: MFA software in 2026: why identity governance still matters
