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Security is the concern of any individual. After all, making things harder for the attacker, the technology evolving is making them sense the malicious practices to overpass the security shields. Figuring out the security concerns of online accounts with the right level of a game plan is key to cease the cybersecurity issues.

When thinking of security just a password might be okay for an account in our local shop, but by the time we talk about our bank account protection, a password is not just enough. We are expected to have a strong authentication service to eliminate the hacker’s participation.

Authentication is a must, to protect customers’ accounts that establish identity. It is a process of identifying the actual owner by checking the credentials. While username and password is a usual way of authentication, but by then we are asked something more to prove ourselves this process is called “Two-Factor Authentication”.

What is Two-Factor Authentication

Two-Factor authentication is also referred to as two-step verification or dual-factor authentication. It uses different authorization factors to protect the account holder’s credentials that add an additional layer of security to the authentication process.

Authentication Factors

They are the special category of credentials that are used to authorize the ultimate user safely by requesting access from the network. This establishes a strong identity method that is based on certain authentication methods. Authentication for customer account security is of three types.

• Knowledge Factor – Something you know, such as a password
• Possession Factor – Something you hold as a key or mobile number
• Inherence Factor – Something you inherence like a fingerprint

Knowledge Factor 

Here the user is required to know the account credentials that grant access, they are the secured information such as personal identification number (PIN) which is the most common type of authentication. Most online accounts require a user and password or PIN to have access.

But, the use of passwords became the de facto problem of online authentication as they are really easy to use and not enough tough as a possession factor. And If you forget your password, companies started executing “security questions” – a type of knowledge factor, for account recovery.

It was found that password 123456 is incredibly the common password, that has been seen data breach 23 million times. And according to a 2019 Google study, 64% of people admitted to reusing passwords across online sites.

Possession Factor 

Here, in the possession factor, it is a combination of two types of authentication. It holds a piece of information or a key that grants access to the servers. They are typically controlled through devices that belong to actual users. In order to protect the user’s credentials, companies such as Twilio SendGrid have implemented the  2FA.

For instance, the real-world example is the debit card and PIN. Debit card – something you have & PIN – something you know. This possession factor builds an additional step of security like sending a one-time password to phone, email for other ways that are harder to breach than a simple password. The authentication of the possession process is 

1. User registers with the help of the phone number, creating username and password.
2. The user logs in to the account with the credentials that are their password and username.
3. The user requests access where a Onetime password (OTP) is generated and delivered to the user through mobile phone
4. The users get access to the account by entering the system-generated password. 

This process can also be a Time-Based onetime Password (TOTP). The possession factor generates numeric numbers based on an algorithm, where it includes a secret key that allows the authentication method offline as well.

Inherence Factor

Here is the unique authentication access. These factors include fingerprints, thumbprints, palm, handprints, voice, facial, retina, and iris scan. Inherence can be used when systems are effective, but they hold huge drawbacks that they can be accessed through technology. Where the users may lose the flexibility of accessing the account and hold a negative impact.

Adding 2FA to your HandySends account

HandySends enables 2FA to all its customers, enables the protection process to accounts, and helps to maintain your sender reputation. So that 2FA makes it harder to breach the security shield which makes accounts safe and safer.

Wrapping Up

Two-Factor authentication wins the war in the security factors, keeping customers’ and customer’s accounts safe. To learn more about the best practices to be followed, check our blogs.

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