Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

One of the best security procedures you can take to protect your on-line accounts is to enable two-factor authentication for websites that support it. With password breaches so common nowadays, it could be the one thing that keeps hackers from stealing your identity on-line.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds a second level of security to an on-line account log-in. When you have to enter only your username and one password, that's considered a single-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication requires the user to have two out of three types of credentials before being able to access an account. The three types are:

• Something you know, such as a personal identification number (PIN), password or a pattern
• Something you have, such as an ATM card, phone, or fob
• Something you are, such as a biometric like a fingerprint or voice print

One of the most common ways to use two-factor authentication is to receive a secondary PIN or password sent to your cell-phone by text message (SMS). Another popular method is to use an app on your cell-phone that generates a new PIN every 30-seconds. These apps include "Authy App" and "Google Authenticator" .

Of course there are attacks that can be run against two-factor authentication, but using two-factor authentication offers more protection than logging in without it. When you make an attack harder, you're disabling a certain subset of adversaries that may want to target you.

Some popular sites that allow you to set up two factor authentication include:

• Facebook
• Gmail
• Google+
• Hushmail
• Mail.Ru
• Snapchat
• Telegram
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• VK
• WhatsApp
• WordPress

A list of many other web-sites and services that offer two-factor authentication can be found at: https://twofactorauth.org/

Using two-factor authentication increases the security of your on-line accounts. Where possible, I recommend that you use Authy or Google Authenticator in place of text / SMS so that you don’t have to rely on having cell-service in order to use two-factor authentication.