Authentication Factors & MFA
Authentication is an important process that helps verify who you are when you access online accounts or services. It can involve one or more factors, which are different ways to prove your identity. There are three main types of authentication factors:
1. **Something you Know**: This includes information that only you should know, like a password or a Personal Identification Number (PIN).
2. **Something you Have**: This refers to physical items or tools that you possess, such as a hardware security key, a smartphone app that generates codes, or a smart card. These items help confirm your identity in addition to your password.
3. **Something you Are**: This type involves your unique physical characteristics, known as biometrics. Examples include your fingerprint, facial recognition, or even an iris scan.
To make your accounts even more secure, you can use a method called Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). MFA combines at least two different types of these authentication factors. For instance, if you log in with your password and then enter a code sent to your phone from an authenticator app, that is considered MFA. However, if you use two passwords, that does not count as MFA because both are from the 'know' category.
According to Microsoft, using MFA can block an impressive 99.9% of automated attacks that try to guess passwords. One of the most effective tools for MFA is the FIDO2 security key. This key is designed to protect you from phishing attacks, which are attempts by attackers to trick you into giving away your information. FIDO2 keys work by ensuring that the cryptographic challenge is linked to the legitimate website you are trying to access, making it very difficult for fake websites to intercept your login information. By using these security measures, you can significantly enhance your online safety and protect your personal information from unauthorized access.
Context recap: Authentication is an important process that helps verify who you are when you access online accounts or services. It can involve one or more factors, which are different ways to prove your identity. There are three main types of authentication factors:
1. **Something you Know**: This includes information that only you should know, like a password or a Personal Identification Number (PIN).
Why this matters: Authentication Factors & MFA helps learners in Cybersecurity connect ideas from Cybersecurity Fundamentals to decisions they make during practice and assessment. Highlight tradeoffs, assumptions, and verification.
Step-by-step approach: (1) define the goal in one sentence, (2) identify evidence that supports the goal, (3) explain how each piece of evidence changes your conclusion, and (4) verify the final answer against the original goal and constraints.