In a quest for perfect security, the perfect is the enemy of the good. People are criticizing SMS-based two-factor authentication in the wake of the Reddit hack, but using SMS-based two factor is still much better than not using two-factor authentication at all.
Two factor authentication isn’t perfect — but it’s desirable
Two-factor authentication is named that because it requires you to have two things to get into your account: something you know (your password) and something you have (an additional security code from your mobile device or a physical token).
When using popular social networking apps or software applications, you may wish to enable extra security features, such as Two-factor authentication, which is also often called Multi-factor authentication or MFA.
The most popular two-factor authentication program is Google Authenticator. This is an app to be installed on your mobile phone, and it gives you a real-time authentication code that changes every 30 seconds. Google suggests it for all of your Google accounts. It can, however, be used for a variety of other websites. Wear OS support, a dark theme, and offline support are among the additional features.
In short, Authy is the best two-factor authentication app. Besides supporting time-based codes, Authy comes with encrypted backups and supports nearly every device on the market (including the Apple Watch). There are some alternatives, though, both in hardware and software form.
There are some differences between factors, and there are even differences in how one-time codes are generated and sent to you. We have a deep dive into what two-factor authentication is if you need more information.
Bitwarden provides excellent two-factor authentication (2FA) options. When enabled, 2FA means you need to provide both your password and a second form of verification while logging into that account. This provides an important extra layer of protection for securing online accounts, because it prevents others from gaining access to your accounts even if they somehow get a hold of your passwords. Bitwarden supports a range of different 2FA options to increase the security of your Bitwarden vault, including:
Banks, social networks and other online services are moving to two-factor authentication to stem a torrent of hacks and data theft. More than 555 million passwords have been exposed through data breaches. Even if yours isn't on the list, the fact that so many of us reuse passwords -- even alleged hackers themselves -- means you're likely more vulnerable than you think.
Don't get me wrong. Two-factor authentication is helpful. It's an important part of a broader approach called multifactor authentication that makes logging in more of a hassle but also makes it vastly more secure. Like the name suggests, the technique relies on combining multiple factors that embody different qualities. For example, a password is something you know and a security key is something you have. A fingerprint or face scan is simply part of you.
Code-based two-factor authentication, however, doesn't improve security as much as you'd hope. That's because the code is just something you know, like your password, even if it has a short shelf life. If it's swiped, so is your security.
Don't dump two-factor authentication just because it isn't perfect. It's still vastly better than a password alone and more resistant to large-scale hack attempts. But definitely consider stronger protections, like hardware security keys, for sensitive accounts. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Dropbox, GitHub, Microsoft and others support that technology today.
Two-factor authentication (2FA), sometimes referred to as two-step verification or dual-factor authentication, is a security process in which users provide two different authentication factors to verify themselves.
2FA is implemented to better protect both a user's credentials and the resources the user can access. Two-factor authentication provides a higher level of security than authentication methods that depend on single-factor authentication (SFA), in which the user provides only one factor -- typically, a password or passcode. Two-factor authentication methods rely on a user providing a password as the first factor and a second, different factor -- usually either a security token or a biometric factor, such as a fingerprint or facial scan.
Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to the authentication process by making it harder for attackers to gain access to a person's devices or online accounts because, even if the victim's password is hacked, a password alone is not enough to pass the authentication check.
Two-factor authentication has long been used to control access to sensitive systems and data. Online service providers are increasingly using 2FA to protect their users' credentials from being used by hackers who stole a password database or used phishing campaigns to obtain user passwords.
There are several ways in which someone can be authenticated using more than one authentication method. Currently, most authentication methods rely on knowledge factors, such as a traditional password, while two-factor authentication methods add either a possession factor or an inherence factor.
The vast majority of two-factor authentication methods rely on the first three authentication factors, though systems requiring greater security may use them to implement multifactor authentication (MFA), which can rely on two or more independent credentials for more secure authentication.
Two-factor authentication is a form of MFA. Technically, it is in use any time two authentication factors are required to gain access to a system or service. However, using two factors from the same category doesn't constitute 2FA. For example, requiring a password and a shared secret is still considered SFA as they both belong to the knowledge authentication factor type.
The OTP is sent from the online service to Yubico for authentication checking. Once the OTP is validated, the Yubico authentication server sends back a message confirming this is the right token for this user. 2FA is complete. The user has provided two factors of authentication: The password is the knowledge factor, and the YubiKey is the possession factor.
Smartphones offer a variety of 2FA capabilities, enabling companies to use what works best for them. Some devices can recognize fingerprints, use the built-in camera for facial recognition or iris scanning, and use the microphone for voice recognition. Smartphones equipped with GPS can verify location as an additional factor. Voice or Short Message Service (SMS) may also be used as a channel for out-of-band authentication.
Apple iOS, Google Android and Windows 10 all have apps that support 2FA, enabling the phone itself to serve as the physical device to satisfy the possession factor. Duo Security, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and purchased by Cisco in 2018 for $2.35 billion, has a platform that enables customers to use their trusted devices for 2FA. Duo's platform first establishes that a user is trusted before verifying the mobile device can also be trusted as an authentication factor.
While two-factor authentication does improve security, 2FA schemes are only as secure as their weakest component. For example, hardware tokens depend on the security of the issuer or manufacturer. One of the most high-profile cases of a compromised two-factor system occurred in 2011 when security company RSA Security reported its SecurID authentication tokens had been hacked.
The account recovery process itself can also be subverted when it is used to defeat two-factor authentication because it often resets a user's current password and emails a temporary password to allow the user to log in again, bypassing the 2FA process. The business Gmail accounts of the chief executive of Cloudflare were hacked in this way.
Environments that require higher security may be interested in three-factor authentication, which typically involves possession of a physical token and a password used in conjunction with biometric data, such as fingerprint scans or voiceprints. Factors such as geolocation, type of device and time of day are also being used to help determine whether a user should be authenticated or blocked. Additionally, behavioral biometric identifiers, such as a user's keystroke length, typing speed and mouse movements, can also be discreetly monitored in real time to provide continuous authentication instead of a single one-off authentication check during login.
Now, even when I saw trouble brewing -- an Instagram e-mail came asking me if I wanted to change my phone number to one in Nigeria -- I wasn't too worried. I'd protected my account with two-factor authentication (2FA). While 2FA isn't perfect, it's better than anything else out there for basic security.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club, a leading non-fungible tokens (NFT) collective, lost $3 million of NFTs to a hacker using a phishing attack. Like yours truly, the Bored Ape Yacht Club said, "At the time of the hack, two-factor authentication was enabled and security surrounding the IG account followed best practices." They also said they were working with Instagram security and they'd report on what happened. That was almost a month ago.
Two-factor authentication is designed to make sure that you're the only person who can access your Apple ID, even if someone else knows your password. When you enter your Apple ID and password for the first time on a new device, that device asks for the verification code that is displayed automatically on your trusted devices.
Your users are not an email address. They're not a phone number. They're not even a unique username. Any of these authentication factors should be mutable without changing the content or personally identifiable information (PII) in the account. Your users are the multi-dimensional culmination of their unique, personalized data and experience within your service, not the sum of their credentials. A well-designed user management system has low coupling and high cohesion between different parts of a user's profile. 2ff7e9595c
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