What Is Multi-factor Authentication?

By Author: imageware
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Multi-factor authentication (MFA ) is an electronic authentication method in which two or more factors are required for a user to access a web page or application. These factors can be knowledge, inherent characteristics, or possession. MFA is designed to be more secure than a simple login using an ID and password, protecting the user from identity theft and fraud .

How authentication works

The concept of authentication is quite simple. The user must prove her identity to a server, web page or platform to have access to it. Traditionally, authentication was one factor with a single step, such as logging in with a username and password. However, it can be easy to compromise password credentials, especially if they are easy to guess, such as "1234" or "password." And if an individual uses the same password for multiple accounts, accessing a password for a seemingly insignificant account the user opened years ago can allow fraudsters to hack into important accounts like databases, bank accounts, and more. The downside of passwords is that they can be difficult for the user to remember and costly for companies ...
... to institute strong password policies that can actually protect company data. According Javelin Report, Consumer Preferences Drive Change in Authentication ; in 2020, 22% of fraud victims had their password and email credentials stolen. While 75% of consumers say passwords are one of the easiest methods of authentication, they also understand that passwords can be easily compromised.

In this case, multi factor authentication can be used as an extra step and additional hurdle for fraudsters to jump through when trying to access an account. Even minor factors like a secret question can deter hackers from accessing your data. Fortunately, technology has evolved and there are much more sophisticated and stronger authentication methods that are capable of keeping data secure.

Authentication types

With fraud on the rise, it's more important than ever to implement extra layers of security across your business, employees, and customers using two or three of the following MFA factors:

Something you are : This information is part of the user. It is a feature, or biometrics, that only the user possesses. This includes, but is not limited to, facial recognition, voice recognition, and biometric scanners such as fingerprint, palm print, or retina. According to the Javelin study , trust in biometric authentication is growing. Consumer perceived effectiveness of facial recognition (63%) and retinal scanner (62%) remained stable from 2019 to 2020, but voice recognition reached, for the first time, the 50% perceived effectiveness rate.

Something you have: This has to do with information that the user can physically carry with them. Examples include identification using a work ID card, passport, personal identity verification (PIV ) card, authenticator app, or token (also called a one-time password) that is typically sent via SMS/push notification. These verification methods are typically used in two-factor authentication, along with something you know.

Something you know: This is information that the user stores in their memory (or has written down or recorded somewhere) and can retrieve when needed. Examples include a password, a Personal Identification Number (PIN ), a security key, or the answer to a question (such as your mother's middle name, the street you grew up on, the name of your first pet, the name of your best friend or the city where you were born).

Somewhere you are : This factor is not as well known as those mentioned above. It is related to your physical location. Some methods of detecting a user's location include using their Internet Protocol (IP ) address, their media access control (MAC ) address, or their phone's geolocation or mobile device.

The IP address is a numerical label assigned to all devices connected to a computer network that use the Internet to communicate. It is the most common method to detect the location of the user. For example, the IP address will tell us whether the user is connecting from the US or Germany.

The MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to a network. A company can configure its network so that only specific computers (with a fixed MAC address) can be used to log in. If someone tries to access the network from another computer, access will be denied.

Mobile geolocation uses the GPS location of the user's phone to detect their location. If a user's last known location was in the United States and a couple of hours later the card is used in India, it could mean that the user and the card are not in the same location.

Something you do : This is the least used factor of all the authentication types we've mentioned so far, mainly because it's not as well known. This type of authentication proves the user's identity by observing her actions.

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