I'm Leanne, the new Head of Product here at BigChange, and I've loved my first few weeks getting to know all of you and seeing our platform's fantastic impact on your businesses. How BigChange helps streamline operations, saves valuable time, and ultimately boosts success is truly inspiring. And guess what? We've got some exciting improvements on the way—stay tuned!
As Head of Product, my role is to understand your needs and ensure the BigChange platform evolves to make your work as efficient and effective as possible. This key role keeps us focused on innovation and helps us stay ahead in delivering the tools you need. If you're a current or future customer and want to connect, please contact me via LinkedIn or email—I'd love to hear from you!
Today, though, I want to discuss something incredibly important: security. We all think about it, but we must get it right because the risks of not doing so can be severe—such as data breaches, financial losses, reputational damage, and even regulatory penalties.
Keeping your information safe in our increasingly digital world has never been more crucial. With businesses relying on more online tools, the risk of cyber threats keeps growing. Recent reports show that cybercrime cost UK businesses over £4 billion in the past year alone, with 39% of businesses experiencing a cyber-attack in 2023 (source: UK Government Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023)
For companies of all sizes, your most important information and customer data is at the core of what you do, and we want to ensure only the right people have access to it. That's why we're stepping up security with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
What is MFA?
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security by requiring more than one type of information or access to a device to log in to your account—like accessing your phone banking app. It’s more secure because it uses two ‘things’ rather than one:
1. Something You Know: A password or a PIN.
2. Something You Have: A smartphone, smart card, or a special device.
3. Something You Are: Fingerprints or facial recognition.
For the BigChange platform, you'll now be asked to enter a code from an authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator) on a separate device in addition to your usual login details. It's simple, but it makes a huge difference.
Why MFA?
The biggest benefit is the added security. MFA makes it much harder for hackers to access your systems—even if someone gets hold of your password, they still need that extra verification. By using MFA, you're not just keeping your business safe but also meeting industry standards and building trust with your customers, reassuring them that their data is secure.
And it's not just us saying this! The ICO recommends MFA as one of the best ways to secure IT systems (source: ICO Guidance on Multi-Factor Authentication), and Microsoft calls turning on MFA one of the top ways to protect your company (source: Microsoft Security Blog on MFA).
Let's Keep Your Data Safe Together
Ensuring your data is secure requires a team effort, and we're thrilled to have MFA available on the BigChange platform. We encourage all our customers to activate it today. That one small extra step when logging in is a giant leap for your data security!
If you have any questions, check out our support article or contact us at support.bigchange.com. We're here to help!
