2 Factor Authentication Protects Your Identity
Monday, May 17th, 20102 factor authentication means that a special procedure for authenticating your identity is put into motion before a third party can access your information. For instance, when you call your bank in order to obtain you balance and you are asked for a personal code or personal information that is pertinent to you after you have given your pin number, 2 factor authentication is being put into play. Rather than using only a single form of authentication, 2 factor authentication requires the addition of a secondary factor, meaning the addition of something the user has or something the user is. For instance, every time a bank customer visits their local ATM machine the first authentication factor is the physical ATM card the customer slides into the machine and the second factor is the PIN they enter. Without both pieces of input, authentication cannot take place. This scenario illustrates the basic parts of most 2 factor authentication processes that involve the "something you have" plus "something you know" concept.
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