Skip to main content

Security

Authentication​

To prove that you are whom you claim tobe.

The 3 authentication factors​

What you know​

  • Knowledge: passwords, passphrases, PINs, etc.
  • Weakness: Low entropy (human-chosen passwords are weak)
  • Passwords that are easy to remember are also easy to guess.

What you have​

  • Possession: hardware tokens like smart card, SecurID, SIM cards, etc.
  • Physical tokens are time-synced and store an agreed-upon secret key (seed for random number generator), and the server knows the same key.

What you are​

  • Inherence: biometrics like fingerprints, retina scans, voice, etc.
  • Cannot be refreshed.
Multi-factor vs. secondary factors
  • Multi-factor: 2 or more factors are required.
  • Secondary factors: 2 or more factors are used, but only one is required. (strength of weakest factor is the strength of the authentication)