Thomson Reuters Authenticator Cards – 2019 Innovation Award Nominee

With cybercriminals increasingly focusing on the tax and accounting profession, data security continues to be an important topic. Firms have an ethical and legal duty to take reasonable precautions to protect their clients’ data, and since passwords can be easily stolen or hacked, multi-factor authentication (MFA) is more important than ever as a tool in any firm’s comprehensive security plan.

Thomson Reuters has offered the Thomson Reuters Authenticator mobile app since 2017 for the CS Professional Suite, and other software, there was a need for a more robust MFA plan, with backup options and choices for those without access to a smartphone. In 2018, new MFA technology was launched to meet those needs, the Authenticator Display card, which included integration with other 3rd party MFA apps like Duo Security, Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, etc.. The Display card provides the ability to generate a list of emergency one-time-use codes which is revolutionizing securing data in the tax and accounting profession.

Unique to the profession, the Authenticator Display Card gives staff, as well as clients, a simple tool, the size of a credit card that can fit in their wallet, to use as a primary or backup method for verifying their identity to access their important tax, accounting and audit software, without resorting to less secure methods such as text or email. Capitalizing on our partnership with Artina Group to manage purchasing and distribution, we’ve seen tremendous market response, with over 1400 cards sold to over 350 firms in the first month.