October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and it’s time we talk about one of the biggest failures in enterprise security: the IT help desk.
The help desk has become the enterprise’s most dangerous blind spot. Attackers know it and exploit it daily, turning well-meaning agents into unwitting accomplices in costly account takeover (ATO) attacks.
If your help desk relies on security questions, SMS codes, or employee IDs, you’re not just failing to defend your enterprise—you’re actively handing attackers the keys. Social engineers are expertly exploiting the pressure and urgency of help desk operations, and they are succeeding because too many organisations continue to stake their security on methods that were compromised a decade ago.
The help desk shouldn’t be the weakest link; it should be the first line of defence. That means moving beyond guesswork and adopting identity verification that confirms who someone is, versus what they know or the device they’re using. With phishing-resistant, standards-based verification built into support workflows, agents stop being human lie detectors and start being defenders.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is about raising the bar. If we continue to treat the help desk as a cost centre instead of a security control, attackers will keep walking through the front door. The companies that win are the ones that stop gambling with outdated methods and start demanding certainty at every point of access, and beyond the initial request.
HYPR is addressing this critical vulnerability head-on with the launch of the HYPR Affirm Help Desk Application, the first purpose-built solution designed to secure this high-value attack vector. By integrating phishing-resistant, biometric identity verification directly into the support workflow, HYPR transforms the help desk from a prime target into a powerful line of defence.
Here is why this new application is so critical for today’s security landscape:
- Stop ATO Attacks: Eliminate the #1 entry point for social engineering.
- Cut Costs: Reduce $70-per-ticket password reset expenses with secure self-service.
- Empower Agents: Remove the guesswork from identity verification.
- Achieve Certainty: Gain NIST IAL 2 assurance in under two minutes for every support request.
Legacy methods like knowledge-based authentication, one-time passwords and employee IDs are outdated and often broken. HYPR replaces guesswork with proof, giving enterprises the confidence to address lockouts, MFA resets, and escalations securely and at scale.
