Two-Factor Authentication Solutions Comparison: Google Authenticator vs. Protectimus
People often ask us to compare the Protectimus two-factor authentication solutions with Google Authenticator and explain how we’re better. In this article, we’ll try to answer these questions. Firstly, keep in mind that Google Authenticator is only a one-time password generator app. One of our tokens, the Protectimus Smart OTP, works similarly to this app. However, in any authentication system, what really matters is not...
HOTP Algorithm Explained
HOTP algorithm, or HMAC based one-time password algorithm, was first published by OATH as RFC 4226 back in 2005. What is OATH? OATH or Initiative for Open AuTHentication is an organization which specified, put together and published the OATH OTP algorithms that lie at the heart of MFA (multi-factor authentication). It is time we look closely at these algorithms, specifically — OATH-HOTP. HOTP algorithm is what allows creating one-time...
Time Drift in TOTP Hardware Tokens Explained and Solved
Multi-factor authentication by a Time based One Time Password (TOTP) generated with a physical device is, without any doubt, the staunchest approach to safeguarding sensitive data and securing access to your invaluable accounts. But being physical objects and having no internet connection gives physical TOTP tokens both their main strength and their major drawback. Without any connection to the net, the tokens’ internal clocks...
4 Reasons Two-Factor Authentication Isn’t a Panacea
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an indispensable cybersecurity measure used to protect data. Most of the modern information security standards despite the area of application such as PCI DSS, PSD2, HIPAA, etc., demand the multifactor authentication (MFA) among other data protection methods. This approach allows mitigating the danger coming from such attack vectors as brute force password cracking, keylogging, social engineering,...
How to Protect Facebook Account from Being Hacked
Why should you worry about protecting Facebook from hacking Many tend to believe that the security of their social media presence isn’t the first thing worth the effort to work on. You don’t often see a question like ‘How Can I Protect Facebook Account From Being Hacked?’ unless the person making such a request got hacked recently and now seeks the protection based on the bitter experience. What does a hacker get when they hack FB...
10 Windows Computer Safety Tips
Windows is undoubtedly the most popular family of operating systems for personal computers and laptops worldwide. It is used on home machines and corporate workstations alike, so the question of ensuring Windows user profile security is essential. This article provides some Windows computer safety tips we hope will be useful to you. In order to understand how to protect Windows and what Internet safety measures are there, we must...