Centralizing MFA and SSO with FortiAuthenticator for Enhanced Identity Management

I’m sitting here, at my desk, on my third cup of coffee — I’m still fairly amped following the hardware hacking village at DefCon last week — and it reminds me just how far cybersecurity has come since I got into the business. I cut my teeth as a network admin as early as 1993, playing around with voice and data multiplexing over good old PSTN lines—the network equivalent of the dinosaurs—and I’ve even survived the mayhem the Slammer worm caused up close. Fast-forward to today, and my company, PJ Networks, has been helping our enterprise clients — including three banks as of recently — level up their zero-trust architecture with solutions such as FortiAuthenticator. But you know what? If you’re serious about security, you really don’t have a choice: You need to centralize MFA and SSO, period. It’s mission-critical.

MFA Overview

MFA… that’s something I’ve been bouncing about for ages now from the time people thought simply using passwords was good enough (hahahaaha funny joke, right?). MFA is your online identity’s bouncer — keeping out bad actors by ensuring that simply knowing a password, which can be stolen or cracked faster than you can say Slammer worm, isn’t enough to gain entry. I’ve also found that over time, organizations tend to slap on all kinds of different types of MFA but then just screw it up by piecing it together across all of their different apps and endpoint platforms, leading to a protected but confusing and inconsistent user experience.

The core strengths of MFA:

• Adds extra layers beyond mere passwords — something you know, and something you have, or are.
• Greatly minimizes exposure to credential theft and phishing attacks.
• Demands better security adherence (though good luck convincing execs to ditch password123).

But here’s where many enterprises trip up: Managing numerous MFA systems across dozens of applications can become messy — quickly. It is as if you are attempting to cook several dishes on different stoves at once without a recipe and no timer. You get burnt, overcooked, underdone.

That’s where FortiAuthenticator plays a role.

SSO Benefits

Single Sign-On (SSO) — now this is one of those ideas that I wish I coulda thought up back in the days of my first networks. Envision the convenience of just signing in once and getting instant, secure access to all of your favorite services, without the hassle of another password to remember. But here’s the catch: SSO is effective only when combined with sound identity management and MFA. The one password to rule them all — yet fortified so it can’t be cracked like a nut.

SSO is about more than just combating password fatigue:

• Reduces IT helpdesk calls (that ever-constant I forgot my password hours of my life)
• Makes the user lifecycle management easier (hiring, move, leave)
• Enhanced visibility into access patterns for deeper threat detection

But note that relying on SSO alone, without robust MFA, is just like putting on a great lock and leaving the windows wide open.

FortiAuthenticator Features

Now I’ve rolled out FortiAuthenticator in many enterprise environments, those three bank environments I referred to — banks that take zero-trust seriously. What makes FortiAuthenticator unique – at least as far as I am concerned – is the capability of centralizing and consolidating MFA and SSO for all the enterprise applications and services.

These are standout features that actually matter for real-world security and operations:

• Single Source of Truth: FortiAuthenticator centralizes the control of users and devices used to access a network. No longer do you need to juggle separate logins or systems.
• Protocol Agnostic: FortiAuthenticator fits in any network and allows protocols including SAML, OAuth, RADIUS—and can communicate with any other device on the network (as long as they can communicate with each other).
• Flexible MFA Options: Push notifications, OTP tokens, biometrics — choose what aligns with your organization’s risk profile.
• Strong Self Service Portal: End-users can reset password or manage their MFA methods by themselves. This one rescued my (and my clients’) sanity many time.
• Fortinet Fabric Integration: As a key part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, it connects securely to other Fortinet solutions to further bolster your security posture.

In a recent project, I witnessed first-hand how FortiAuthenticator was able to reduce the deployment of MFA from three months to under a month in a heavily regulated banking environment – no small achievement. And users? They expressed much less frustration. Because here’s the thing — you can have the best security architecture in the world, and if your users hate it, they will work around it. (I am looking at you, password reuse and sticky notes.)

ROI

So, let’s have the conversation around the numbers — because security at the end of the day isn’t just a check-box issue. It’s about value.

Deploying FortiAuthenticator provides:

• Lower help desk support expense (forgo password resets and lockouts)
• Faster graudation/offboarding (it’s important to prevent orphaned accounts)
• Reduced risk of breaches — can cost millions (and your rep)
• Enhanced compliance position with audit logs and reporting

Also — don’t underestimate the time savings for your security team. These MFA and SSO capabilities that come built-in across Atlassian ship as one centralized point, allowing your admins to spend their time elsewhere, not chasing who has access to what, providing your organization with proactive defense instead.

In my opinion? FortiAuthenticator is like going from a rattly old carburated car (remember those?) from a sleek, turbocharged one with GPS and lane assist. It’s not body from point A to B; it’s control and security on the ride.

Quick Take

• You can fall prey to a world of hurt without centrally managed MFA, manage it or enjoy being managed by chaos.
• SSO and strong MFA together save users, IT teams, and security ops people a huge amount of hassle.
• FortiAuthenticator consolidates this all down into one location, so that management is easy.
• It is compatible with the latest protocols and works seamlessly in Fortinet environments.
• ROI is not just a concept—it becomes immediate savings and risk reduction.

That’s my 2 cents — in today’s world of perpetually innovating hackers, riding on silo’d or half-baked identity solutions is just tempting fate. FortiAuthenticator provides enterprises that all-in-one, heavily controlled security infrastructure. But also like any tool — it’s effectiveness relies on its implementation and regular check-up.

Okay, enough from me. Time for coffee number four.

Sanjay Seth
Founder & Cybersecurity Expert at PJ Networks Pvt Ltd

PS: If you still believe that passwords alone will stop attackers, really, I’ve got an old PSTN muliplexer for you. In the meantime, I’m going to go check out what the cool hacks at DefCon are this year.