With much concern around password security and staying safe online nowadays,
this article sets out to explain the basis of Two Factor Authentication and
why it's so important for staying safe online and protecting your digital
footprint.
What is Two Factor Authentication?
Two factor authentication (or 2FA) 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. It adds an extra layer of security than the
older single factor authentication.
Typically, when a user tries to sign into a service they will type in their
username and password and then they will be met with a second layer of
security which offers a choice of receiving a code via text message or phone
call or in some cases an unlocking option will be sent to the authenticator
app on the user's smart phone.
If you choose to receive the text, then you will have to type the code into
the service you are trying to access to authenticate it and gain access. It
has increasingly been included in the last couple of years due to the many
hacking and fishing scams that have been going around.
Potential challenges to blind and vision impaired users
Some services are notoriously difficult to authenticate for blind or vision
impaired users. In some cases you only get a limited amount of time to put
in your second factor of the authentication process and this might cause the
procedure to fail and time out!
Two factor authentication is becoming increasingly popular with online
shopping sites. For example, when you check out on some online stores and
enter on pay now you will be met with a message to say we have sent you a
message on your banking app please log in to authenticate. Depending on how
accessible or well designed the app is this can be an easy or difficult
process.
Conclusion
In summary two factor authentication is a good thing and makes our personal
data more secure. We are making you aware it is out there, and it is here to
stay. A lot of big corporate companies are trying to make passwords a thing
of the past and view two factor authentication as the way forward.
NCBI Technology News.
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