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...
Twitter Two-Factor Authentication in Details
With over 145 million active users Twitter is widely used not only for personal entertainment but for business and political agendas too. Yet, surprisingly (or not, considering that they did admit to using phone numbers for targeting ads) Twitter has been reluctant to forgo SMS to deliver one time passwords for their 2 step verification for a very, very long time. Until finally, in November last year, they gave in and allowed for...
TOTP Tokens Protectimus Slim NFC: FAQ
The first programmable TOTP tokens Protectimus Slim NFC were released just a couple years ago. Since then, we’ve received hundreds of orders, as well as hundreds of questions about how it works, how programmable security key differs from the classic one, how to program tokens, and whether or not using this kind of OTP token is secure. In this article, I’ll explain how classic TOTP hardware token and programmable TOTP token...
Best Protectimus MFA Features for Financial Services Cybersecurity
The financial services industry is inherently more at risk of cyberattacks than any other industry. Financial sector includes everything from investment consultants and stocks to insurance and banking; naturally, the money that floats within the financial industry is very tempting to hackers. In fact, according to Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report — 71% of recent cyber attacks were motivated by money itself, nothing...
Sophos 2FA with Hardware OTP Tokens
Sophos solutions allow for reinforcing Sophos 2FA (two-factor authentication) with Protectimus OTP hardware tokens with one of these two methods: Enabling ‘Auto-create OTP tokens for users’ feature. This automatic method allows for using our programmable Slim NFC token instead of the standard application for multi-factor authentication.Disabling ‘Auto-create OTP tokens for users’ feature. This manual method allows for...