What Is Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and How Does It Work?
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is one of the most effective ways to protect accounts from phishing, password leaks, and unauthorized access. Almost every Internet user has encountered two-factor authentication (2FA) at least once — when logging into online banking, corporate systems, email accounts, cloud services, or even social media. However, not everyone clearly understands how it actually works. Two-factor authentication adds an...
On-Premise 2FA vs Cloud-Based Authentication
The basic idea behind any type of multi-factor authentication is communication between an MFA device and a server. An MFA server can be set up either on-premise (locally within your company’s infrastructure) or in a cloud. Both approaches have their pros and cons. In this post, we aim to give you a comprehensive comparison of cloud multi-factor authentication vs on-premise 2FA solutions to help you choose the best 2-factor...
How to Backup Google Authenticator or Transfer It to a New Phone
Our regular readers know that we strongly recommend applying two-step verification wherever it’s possible. In the contemporary world, where database leaks are a standing affair, two-step authentication is not an option, it is, in fact, a must. If you use two-factor verification, an intruder would need to get both the unique password you came up with, and the gadget, which produces the verification codes, to break into your account....
Adaptive Authentication or How to Make 2FA Convenient for Users
Any of us is interested in protecting confidential data from becoming the public domain on the web. Especially from people who are looking for such information for fraudulent purposes. The effective methods to avoid the invasion of online privacy are already known. And one of the most accessible ways is protecting access to your accounts with two-factor authentication. But… unfortunately, people don’t always use this...
6 MFA Myths You Still Believe
MFA or multi-factor authentication by definition is a technology that limits access to a user account unless the user presents two or more pieces of evidence that prove that they are who they claim to be, moreover, the evidence must be of different natures: something they know, something they have or something they are. Overall, the process is regarded as helpful, as it is a solution to many security threats including phishing, brute...
TOTP Algorithm Explained
Time-based one-time password algorithm (TOTP) is the focus of this post. But, before we delve deeper into the TOTP meaning, we’d like to mention the organization that is instrumental in the one-time password algorithms’ existence — OATH, or Open AuTHentication. OATH is a collaboration of all sorts of specialists, who made their mission to create a truly secure and universal network for all to use. We at Protectimus are...