2 Factor Authentication (2FA)

You hear a lot of stories of people and companies being hacked, sent ransomware or even identity fraud and theft.

As an end user or company, how do you protect your most valuable assets .. your information and data? But most importantly prevent being prosecuted because you breached data privacy with the new law being introduced.

2FA or better known as 2 Factor Authentication or Multi-Factor Verification is:

“a method of confirming a user’s claimed identity in which a user is granted access only after successfully presenting 2 or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism”.

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication

2FA is a touchy subject. To most people it’s a real pain to deal with and handle. It requires you to log in and then receive a authentication code on a mobile device (as an example) which then needs to be entered to authenticate and grant access to information systems and data.

The idea of 2FA is to allow a remote server identify who you are and not someone who is trying to hack your system or intercept information being transferred back and forth over the internet.

An example of 2FA is your bank provider, logging into your online banking, but then when you go to transfer money or pay a bill from an account, it will ask you to use an associated application or google authenticator to verify it is actually the server it is communicating with.

Another example is you have been hacked and the hacker installs a ghost keylogger on your system. Even though 2FA will allow him to have the info being transmitted to a smart phone device because you are typing in this information. But the next time the hacker tries to access your secure information he may have the first password,  but he cannot access the second level pin code or passcode because that will come to your smart phone device.

As much as 2FA is a hindrance or painful to use, it is the next evolution in security and one I highly recommend. I think it should be part of everyday access to any online service.