The new security initiatives dubbed as Amazon Security Awareness and Multi-factor Authentication have been announced by the technology company after a cybersecurity meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House

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Amazon announces new cybersecurity initiatives for organisations and individuals in the US. (Credit: Pete Linforth from Pixabay)

US-based technology company Amazon has unveiled two new security initiatives, aimed at safeguarding organisations and individuals from growing cybersecurity threats.

The new security initiatives dubbed as Amazon Security Awareness and Multi-factor Authentication have been announced following a cybersecurity meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House.

The cybersecurity meeting was also headed by representatives of Google, Microsoft, IBM, and others.

On its part, Amazon said that it will give the people of the US access to the cybersecurity training materials it has developed for keeping its employees and sensitive information safe from cyberattacks.

This initiative will be implemented from October 2021.

As part of it, Amazon will provide security awareness training free of costs to organisations as well as individuals. On top of the Amazon training, businesses and organisations will be able to build their own solutions to match their requirements.

The Amazon Security Awareness training courses will have videos along with online assessments.

Amazon said that starting in October, qualified account holders of Amazon Web Services (AWS) can get a multi-factor authentication (MFA) device free of cost.

The device will provide a stronger security posture to customers, said Amazon.

With access to the AWS management console, AWS users will be able to authenticate themselves by typing in their passwords and then touching the MFA security token plugged into the USB port of their computers.

According to Amazon, the free MFA token will add a layer of security for shielding customers’ AWS accounts from phishing, man-in-the-middle, session hijacking, and malware attacks.

Besides, customers can use their MFA devices for safely accessing multiple AWS accounts, GitHub, Dropbox, Gmail, and other token-enabled applications.

AWS chief information security officer Steve Schmidt said: “A fundamental problem when addressing current cybersecurity threats is education, which is why we’re excited to share our Amazon Security Awareness training for free to help organisations and individuals understand how to navigate and fight against security events.

“And by giving qualified AWS customers access to free MFA tokens, we’ve made it even easier for companies to use this powerful tool to protect their data and important technology assets.”